A Light In The Dark
by HarryPotter'sgirl17
Summary: It all started in a library, that's were Hermione Granger always goes when times are tough. Little does she know that a Slytherin follows and hopes he can help her through her trials. What happens when he finally admits it?
1. In The Library

**Chapter One: In the Library**

It was just past ten o'clock and Hermione Granger sighed as she dropped her quill and stretched in her seat, curving her body slightly to try and get all the kinks out. She had been sitting in the library, researching and taking notes for three hours, when her body started protesting at the strain.

Researching and problem solving were perfect ways to take her mind off the trials that were a regular occurrence in her life; the stress of trying to keep the peace between the D.A members that were from different houses and felt they had some scores to settles, Harry's constant argument that he wasn't as good as they all knew he was, Ron's bullheadedness, the list went on and on...

Standing, she reached higher and higher, standing on her tiptoes, stretching to her fullest extent and completely unaware that a pair of hungry, icy blue eye were watching her every movement as she bent forward and touched her toes.

He wasn't suppose to be doing this, watching this girl with unchecked hunger, following her every curve as she did something as simple as relieve her body from the pain of being in one position for too long. She was a Mudblood, the worst of the creed, and here he was, wondering if she tasted as good as she looked.

Almost as if she could hear his last thought, the Granger girl jerked up and spun around, barely giving him enough time to duck behind the bookcase he was spying on her from, cursing his obsession and the disgrace of being caught while a small part of him wished that she had seen him, that he could admit his feelings...

Hermione scanned the shelves, the hairs on the back of her neck still raised with the knowledge that someone had been watching her. Her first notion had been that Ron had taken to spying on her, but she quickly pushed that thought away as impossible; for one, Ron wasn't the type that went around sneaking glances at people, for another, the last time this had happened and she had confronted him about it, he had turned a nasty shade of green and asked if he really looked like a stalker to her.

The last comment had unnerved Hermione more than she'd like to admit and, instead of her original thought of a shy admirer trying to summon up the courage to talk to her, she immediately began thinking that she was being stalked and that scared her to no end.

Watching the Granger girl slowly tense up, he growled at the protective feeling that rose in his gut, growing ever stronger as her eyes whipped around, getting more frantic by the second as she searched for whatever scared her.

Searched for **him**.

The thought made his stomach clench with another feeling, although this one was more alien than than than the first one; he felt warm at the thought that Hermione Granger would be looking for him and it grew so strong he was overcome by the urge to walk over and talk to her, calm her down a bit.

Growling one more time at the feeling that wouldn't go away, he left his hiding place and made his way to her, hoping to not accidentally slip and reveal how he felt, but unable to see her frightened like that.

"You're here again, Granger? Don't you have anything better to do? It's a Sunday, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione had spun around when she heard someone approaching, hoping it had been Ron or Harry coming to get her and laugh at her irrational fear, but instead of their familiar faces, she saw Draco Malfoy sauntering toward her, his trademark smirk in place.

Frowning, Hermione ignored the voice in her head that pointed out the worried creases on the forehead that the smirk tried to hide, as well as the fact that it made her concerned, and snapped, "None of your business, **Draco**. I have every right to be here, same as you!"

"I wasn't aware that we were on a first name bases, **Hermione**." He could feel his smirk growing even wider and the worry unclenched his stomach now that she wasn't scanning the room like a trapped rabbit. His face felt like it would split at her enlarged eyes as she realized her mistake, "This **is** a new development."

Those beautiful chocolate orbs stayed widened before narrowing slightly as she stiffly replied, "It was a slip of the tongue, Malfoy, one that I won't make again. What do you want, or are you just here to make fun of me?"

Was it her imagination or did his shoulders slump slightly? "Of course," he bit off sharply, making her twitch her hand for her wand, "why bother with the Slytherin? Call me what you want, Granger, I've heard worse."

"So have I, most of it from you." He really did flinch this time, it wasn't just her imagination, he actually looked **sorry **she was momentarily caught off guard. "What's with you today, Malfoy? Usually you just saunter in, call me a Mudblood, insult my friends, and saunter off. This isn't like you at all."

"I didn't know you payed such close attention to what I do, Hermione," Draco drawled, watching with satisfaction as Hermione's cheeks turned pink, "much less on weather I **saunter **or not."

"You are such a prat!" Hermione snapped, gathering up her things and leaving hurriedly, a light blush still residing on her face as she muttered, "Why do I bother...?"

Watching Hermione's retreating form, Draco smiled softly, a light, genuine smile that few ever saw. It had gone well, better than he anticipated even, she hadn't slugged him and he had gone through an entire conversation with calling her a Mudblood. Things were looking up.

Turning, Draco left the library and headed to his common room, thinking of what he'd say to her the next time they met and totally disregarding everything his father said about Muggleborns.

This was turning out to be a good day.

_A/N: Hello, I have decided to do a fic about one of the other pairings in the world of Harry Potter while I wait for my muse to return on my other stories. Please tell me what you think and weather or not I capture their characteristics. Don't worry, I have more!_


	2. It Started With a Slug or Two

**Chapter Two: It Started With a Slug... Or Two**

As I made my way to the Slytherin common room, I resumed my contemplation on when I started getting this hungry, yearning feeling whenever I saw Hermione Granger; it was like she had something I couldn't take a hold of, despite the purity of my blood and the highness of my class. She had this _presence_ that made her ignore the jeers and insults that would have netted me more detentions than a Snitch gave points.

Researching every magical and non-magical way to make one seem more than s/he is, but finding none in the Hogwarts Library, I even sent word to my father to send me some of the books from Malfoy Manor, expecting to find at least a hint on how Granger was making me feel this way.

No such luck. Surprised and frustrated, I sent word that Father should consider restocking the Library and made life hell for Hermione, the Weasel and Potty. So confused with everything, I ended up getting in trouble as well. That was not a good year for me.

Heading down a flight of stairs, I finally managed to pinpoint the exact time and place I had felt that inadequate feeling, that painful pinch in my gut that caused me to lash out at Hermione instead of complimenting her or being nice at all: A Saturday in second year.

_**Flashback**_

I was making my way to the Quidditch field with the rest of the Slytherin team, a bubble of joy inflating my chest at the fact that I was finally on my house team, when Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint started getting into a spat about who had rights to be practicing that day.

The decision was getting heated and blows were being threatened when I started to try to get to the front of the group, maybe calm them down, ease the strain, or suggest some kind of compromise, when Flint finally snapped that we had special permission to be on the field.

When Flint handed over the signed permission form from Snape, I had manged to push my way to the front just as Wood finished reading, causing all the Griffindor team mates' jaws to drop in shock, a wonderfully perfect moment in and of itself; but when that was followed by Potter's bewildered "**Malfoy**?!", it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

"What are you doing, Harry? Why aren't you practicing?" Weasel had shown up with Hermione, who was simply looking confused instead of disgusted, at his elbow, taking in the fact that I was wearing Slytherin Quidditch robes before asking stupidly, "Why is _he_ here?"

"He's their new Seeker," Potter spat as I noticed that Hermione's eyes had traveled over my Quidditch robes and a fierce smile graced her face and let me believe for a moment that she was happy I got on the team, before realizing that, given to the way she looked at me with that smile, she was thinking of ways Potter would humiliate or otherwise defeat me at Quidditch.

"That's not all that's new," Flint gloated, showing the Griffin-dorks the state-of-the-art brooms that came as a reward from my father from getting on the Slytherin team 'behind Potter but there nonetheless' as the letter described, making me feel like I had come up short as always.

"Those are the new Nimbus 2001..." Weasel whispered, practically drooling as his hand reached to touch a broom his family could only dream of only getting a handle, "Those aren't even on assembly yet! I heard they wouldn't be out for almost a whole year! Where did you get them?"

Even Hermione was looking impressed, which pleased me for some strange reason, as Flint drawled, "Not that it is any of your business, but they were a gift from Draco's father."

"Who, unlike _some_, can afford the _best_ for his children," I sneered haughtily as laughter followed my comment, causing Weasel's ears to go ruby red and Potter to growl at me threateningly. As if that ponce could frighten me, he was barely even good at Quidditch, no threat at a duel.

Hermione had also turned red, but it was that beautiful, light blush that told you she was mad and caused the Weasel twins near her to back away slightly as she snapped, "At least no one on the Griffindor team had to _buy_ their way in;_ they_ got in on pure talent."

A rush of blood went to my head, pushing out all thought and feeling as all at once the unfairness that was Hermione Granger and her personality registered itself stubbornly and eternally in my brain...

The fact that she was a genius when it came to magic, despite the fact that she was Muggleborn, that she helped anyone, no matter what house they were in, that she was forever with that Weasel and Potter, despite the fact that I was richer, purer and damn _better looking_ than either of those poofs and she never even looked my way.

Damn it all, it was the fact that she was absolutely_ perfect _and I couldn't get near her. I couldn't talk to her without a horde of people interrupting, I couldn't touch her without a stream of people wondering why and I couldn't even _breathe_ in her direction without half the school thinking I had cast a curse on her.

Hearing nothing but the pounding of blood in my veins, tired of the out-of-reach Hermione and the fact that I had just been insulted in front of my entire team, I called her the one word I swore I would never call her.

**Mudblood**. A word that described only the lowest of the low, a word that could never come close to describing Hermione's class, no matter what her bloodline said or what anybody _else_ said for that matter.

I immediately regretted what I said at the sudden paleness of Hermione's face, the fact that she looked completely startled at the fact that I slandered her, made me want to apologize, admit that I was wrong in front of all the Slytherins, before Ron decided to do something very Malfoy-like. He tried to curse me.

Luckily, for Ron as well as me, his wand backfired and the curse hit him instead of me, dead in the chest and effectively dropping him to his knees and making him belch slugs all over the grass, narrowly avoiding Potter's shoes as he backpedaled away from his belching friend.

This made the rest of Slytherin laugh out loud, but my laughter died in my throat when Hermione dropped beside him, concern radiating from her bended body, and tried to stop the flow of slugs.

_**End Flashback**_

"Pure blood." I muttered, coming to the wall that separated Slytherin common room from the rest of the school to slide away, letting me proceed. "doesn't matter to her, should it matter to me? Will I become my father if I let it matter to me as much as does to him?"

"Draky! I missed you!" Pansy's high pitched squeal brought me back to Earth and gave me unrelenting proof that pure blood didn't always give you good wizards, "I've been waiting _ages_ for you! Where _were_ you?!"

"Get off me, woman!" I snapped, jerking my arm from the hold she had on me as soon as I entered the room, resiting the urge to brush myself off, "Where I was is none of your business, nor of your concern!"

Pansy tried pouting, which only reminded me that Hermione never pouted or whined for forgiveness; she would just glare or argue until you either fully convinced her with all the facts, or admitted to being wrong.

"Come on, Draky," Pansy nettled, once more enveloping my arm with her own, surprisingly strong given how small she was. " Come to the Astronomy Tower, I've got a surprise for you..."

She let her statement trail off suggestively, making me raise an eyebrow at her, no doubt in my mind whatsoever about what kind of 'surprise' she had, before stating flatly and firmly, "No."

My comment seemed to surprise her, which gave me time to wrench my arm from her grasp, dart to the stairs to the boy's dormitories, and down the stairs before she noticed I moved.

Making it to the room I shared with the other fifth years, I slammed the door shut, muttered a Locking spell that not even _Alohamora_ could open, before finally flopping onto my bed and sighing.

Keeping a strained interest in Pansy was only a front, a ruse so that no one would doubt that I was only interested in girls from the right house, right creed. I would've felt bad about it if I didn't know that I was only one in a long list of guys she had in her pocket.

Closing my eyes and basking in the blissful silence, I drifted into the daydream that was all that kept me from admitting to Hermione Granger that I fancied her and making an utter fool of myself...

_I would be walking in the courtyard behind Hogwarts, by the Great Lake, letting my bare feet enjoy the sensation of cool water rushing against my feet, no matter how 'improper' my father might call it, for the only thing that mattered here in my mind was me._

_Me and the girl I was walking toward, the girl who was relaxing by the Great Lake, utterly at ease with herself and the universe, and completely oblivious to the fact that I was heading toward her._

_Her brown, bushy hair had fallen over her face as she read from a book, partly shadowing it from my view as I came closer, satisfied that I was finally going to get what I wanted ever since I had seen her face when she was concerned for someone, generally concerned and not the compassion that disappeared as soon as the person fell out of favor._

_I had only seen it once before, that day in second year at the Quidditch field; and, as I leaned over to brush a lock of hair away from her face, letting my fingers trail over her cheek, I saw it again._

_She looked up at me, her face relaxing into a completely untroubled expression and smiled, a smile I only see in my dreams and now, for I am Draco Malfoy 'the snarky git' from Slytherin and there was no way she'd ever want me in reality._

_My daydream Hermione immediately closed her book, pushed back her hair, and stood up to embrace me, gentle hands stroking my back as I tucked her head under my chin, molding us together perfectly._

_"What's wrong, Draco?" Her voice was soft and flowed over my body like a warm ocean wave, completely encompassing me in its power and majesty while taking my breath away just as easily._

_I breathed her in, remembering Hermione's smell. A bit musty from all the books she read and a light flowery scent I didn't have a name for, but adored all the same. I never smelled it on another girl yet. "Nothing, love."_

_She snuggled closer to me, sighing contently, which made me sigh happily as well. How I wished I could be free to do this in reality, whenever I felt like it, wherever I wanted. Instead, I was bound by rules and regulations that were absolute bullocks._

_"I like this feeling." Her voice cut through my mental tirade, a self preservation trait that I learned after listening to my father's seeming never ending rant about 'how much better things were in the old days'._

_"What feeling?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. It was my daydream, after all. My fantasy being played out in a corner of my mind unspoiled by my father's rigid upbringing and damn pureblood mania._

_"Being in your arms."_

_I smiled, feeling sleep tugging at my brain, turning this into a real dream as I tilted Hermione's face up so I could see into those chocolate eyes, those orbs which looked at me with an adoration I could never see in real life, but had to be content with here, in my heart._

_She smiled as well, leaning forward slightly and closing the distance between us and giving me a momentarily reprieve from the silent battle to do this act to the Hermione that never thought of running fingers through my hair, pressed up against my chest..._

--

Draco's dorm mates had no problem getting past his Locking charm, it really was only there to keep Pansy from sneaking in. They had noticed, the whole _dungeon_ had noticed, that Draco was getting tired of Pansy and wondered if it was because of the 'wonderful beauty' that he constantly was muttering about in his sleep.

"Mmmhmm," Draco murmured, obviously in one of those dreams right now as he smiled in his sleep, rolling himself around until he was nothing but tangled sheets and covers. "So perfect..."

"Kinda makes you wonder who she is," Tony Windle, a severe looking blond mused, as he threw a pillow at his friend, a towering redhead named Alec Gardner, who caught it with one hand.

"Well, whoever she is, her blood will be nothing but pure," Alec answered, throwing the pillow at Goyle, smirking as it flew past his outstretched hands and onto the middle of his face "ol' Draco goes for nothing less, doesn't he?"

"What if he is in an affair with a half-blood?" Goyle grunted, surprising everyone with the fact that he used a word with more than four letters as well as the knowledge that Goyle even knew what 'affair' meant. "Somebody like Susan Bones?"

"Or, worse, a _Mudblood_? Maybe that know-it-all, Granger?" Tony sniggered as Draco groaned in his sleep and turned on his side. "Given how much they hate each other, that would be perfectly ironic, wouldn't it?"

"No, no!" Alec barked, staring at Draco's smiling form, "What if he was a poof and it was _Potter_ he was dreaming about?! Can you imagine? 'Oh, Potter, you know I'm only mean to you because I don't want you to know how much I care..' Merlin, I can almost _see_ it!"

The last bit made the three boys burst out laughing, falling back onto their perspective beds and startling Draco out of his slumber, making him glare angrily at his dorm mates. "What the hell is so funny, you giggling bunch of poofs?"

That comment being so close to what they were talking about only made the rest of the boys laugh harder as Draco glared at them, bed covers thrown over his head; until he realized how ridiculous he looked and stood up, pulling the covers off and glaring all the while.

"Will you idiots stop giggling like a bunch of girls and tell me what made you all lose your sanity since I last saw you?" Draco growled, using a glare he usually reserved for Potter and the Weasel. The boys sobered immediately, knowing firsthand how deeply devious his wrath was.

"We were just trying to figure out who this mystery girl of yours is, and where she came from, as well as the purity of her blood," Alec finally informed Draco, who paled at the turn the conversation had taken. "Don't try to deny it, Draco, you've been have dreaming about her a lot and avoiding Pansy like the plague."

"I don't need to have another girlfriend to want to avoid Pansy," Draco drawled quickly, knowing a pause would give him away almost immediately. "The girl has a voice like a banshee singing an opera."

This caused the boys to start laughing again, giving Draco time to get his pulse back under control and to think of some change in topic. Something they would talk about for a while.

"When is the next Quidditch match?" Draco asked, knowing his friends were avid Quidditch followers and, sure enough, they immediately launched into a heated discussion on who would cream who.

Merlin, that was close! He would have to be more careful around the Slytherins and especially his friends. Hermione was not only invading his thoughts, but his private life as well. This was not a good sign, not good at all.

"Well, Draco, so who do you think will win next year's Quidditch World Cup?" Tony asked, turning to Draco just in time to see him grab a fistful of hair and start beating his head with said fist, "Draco?"

"What?" Draco snapped, releasing his hair and jerking his head up, blue eyes blazing with irritation and ire. "What do you want, Tony? Why the hell are you bothering me?"

"I was just wondering who you think will win next year's Quidditch World Cup and you snapped at me like I just asked you to become Potter's boyfriend," Tony answered, once more causing Draco to feel the blood rush from his face. "What is going on in that head of yours?"

"Nothing at all, would you please just leave me alone?" Draco snapped, pushing past the rest of the Slytherin boys in fifth year. "I'm going to go to the library, see you guys later."

"Do you want one of us to go with you?" Goyle asked, cracking his knuckles and eager to get into his regular habit of bodyguard. He was missing cracking skulls of unknowing students, but wasn't sure which ones to crack without Malfoy's instructions.

"No," Draco replied shorty, pausing at the doorway. "I'll see you guys at dinner. I just need to be alone for a while, think some things through and finally find a solution to this damn problem..."

Watching as Draco left, the remaining boys shook their heads and gave each other significant looks, unable to contemplate the mystery that was Draco Malfoy, a puzzle to friend and foes alike.


	3. Illogical Conclusion

**Chapter Three: Illogical Conclusion**

Hermione Granger, girl genius of Griffindor Tower, was having difficulties; she couldn't solve a simple problem, one that should have been solved days, no, months, no, that was wrong, as well. It should have been solved years ago, not still bothering her to this day.

_Damn you, Draco! _Hermione mentally hissed, listening to the laughter and chatter around her. _Now you're even messing up my ability to solve problems! If my schoolwork gets messed up because of you, I swear to Merlin, I curse you into next week and enjoy it more than Harry would!_

"Hermione?" The voice came from far off, echoing like they were stuck in a tunnel.

But Hermione wasn't listening, she was too busy imagining the various ways that she would torture Draco Malfoy if her sudden obsession with him interrupted her schooling.

"Hey, Hermione?"

Ignoring the hand being waved in front of her face, Hermione's imagination took a U-turn and she started daydreaming about the day that Draco would finally come over to their side, letting her admit her feelings for him.

"What did you do?! She looks horrified!"

"I just said her name, nothing else!"

Hermione finally was brought back to Earth in time to see that Harry and Ron were both staring at her with confused and worried expressions on their faces, making her worry herself about how much of what she thought that she said out loud.

"Yes, what is it?" Hermione asked, plastering a smile that she didn't quiet feel on her face in an attempt to deter any questions they might ask, questions she didn't really have an answer to... and that scared her worst then the questions themselves "Did you need me for something?"

"You spaced out for a few minutes there," Harry replied, gazing at her with his sad, emerald orbs that made her want to admit to everything she had been feeling and thinking for the past three years. Merlin, there were some days when she really **hated** to look at him. "We were worried that you had gotten sick or had been hit with a curse or something..."

"No," Hermione replied, adding a bit of feeling into her smile as she focused her attention once more on the parchment and quill in front of her, "I was just thinking about a problem I haven't been able to solve... It's been bothering me for a while-"

Hearing the clatter of dropped quills, Hermione looked up from her parchment to see that her boys' expressions had changed from worry to shock, making her fight to keep in a real grin this time.

"What?"

"You found a problem you can't solve?" Ron gave her a once over, causing Hermione to squirm slightly under his scrutiny. "Who are you and what have you done to our Hermione?"

"Maybe she's just tired, Ron," Harry interjected, smiling himself as Ron continued to watch Hermione as much as a mouse would watch a cat; alert for any kind of change in her demeanor, "We **have** been up for about five hours trying to get this Potion's homework done, that would make even **Hermione** a little sloppy."

Nodding in agreement, Ron began to follow Harry's lead and pack up their parchment and quills, allowing Hermione to breath a sigh of relief before she realized something about Ron's last comment.

_**...our Hermione...**_

__Watching Ron from under the curtain of her hair, Hermione couldn't help but notice that he kept throwing her concerned glances whenever he thought she or Harry weren't looking, confirming what she thought: Ron had finally realized that she was a girl.

_Only took him three years to do so! _ Hermione's angry thought was echoed by her actions; her ink bottle was almost cracked from the force of being shoved under a stack of spell books and parchments and the haphazard swinging of her book bag. _And __after__ I figure out I have feelings for-_

Breaking off that unreliable, not to mention disloyal, train of thought, Hermione snatched up the rest of her books and muttered, "I need to go to the library for something." before dashing out of Griffindor Tower as fast as her legs could carry her.

As she crawled out of the portrait hole, Hermione just managed to hear Harry chuckle and reply to Ron's unheard question with, "That's what Hermione does; when in doubt, go to the library."

Grimacing, Hermione had to admit that it was true, that she normally went to library when she couldn't figure things out, but now she went there when things got tough or when she felt like the world was going to swallow her up.

Only, this time, it wasn't because of the books. It was because of a much more human form of comfort, even if it was only by presence alone that she felt it. Pursing her lips into a thin line that would do Professor McGonagall proud, Hermione decided that tonight she would confront Draco and finally put her feelings to rest.

She made into the library right before it closed for the night and managed to make it past Madam Pierce as she made her way to bed. Hiding amid the bookshelves, Hermione waited, wondering if he made it inside as well and whether or not she really wanted him there.

Sure enough, after a few tense moments, Hermione felt his piercing glare in between her shoulder blades and exhaled slowly, trying to push down the mounting excitement she felt from such an intense glance pointed her way.

"I know you're there, Malfoy," Hermione called out, keeping her voice steady and her legs straight, "You can come out now, or are you afraid of a Griffindor girl?"

Almost hearing his trademark sneer, Hermione had to smile as his steady tread made it's way over to her, yet her smile immediately dropped at the look of fury that was directed at her.

"What took you so-" Draco started, before the realization of what he was about to say hit him and his mouth snapped shut so hard Hermione was sure she heard his teeth crack. "Why are you here, Granger?"

"It's the library, **Malfoy**," Hermione snapped, all warm feeling immediately disappearing. _Two can play at this game... _"I can be in here if I want to."

Sniffing, Draco made his way to one of the tables sitting in the glow of the full moon, allowing Hermione an unobstructed view of Draco's pale skin and silver hair, giving him the illusion of being not entirely from this world.

Swallowing hard, Hermione forced herself to think of the seven most crucial ingredients to a Sleepless Draught in order to make her overactive imagination to get back on track. It took a few moments, but she finally manged to focus on her question. "What are you doing here?"

"It's the library, **Granger**," Draco smirked, throwing her own words back at her. "I can be in here if I want to."

Dropping her head in mock defeat, Hermione hid her smile as she made her way to the opposite end of the table that Draco was sitting at and perched there as she raised her head and asked, "Why do you keep coming here, Malfoy?"

"All the books, Granger," Draco answered, not meeting her gaze and making her doubt his answer. "Your not the only one who studies all the time. There's brains as well as good looks in this body."

_And such a nice body... No! Potion ingredients, goblin rebellions, glowing skin in the moonlight..._

Hermione wasn't sure who was more surprised by her sudden head-slamming, but she was sure that Draco didn't get a bruise the size of a beozer and a migraine to boot when she was finished.

"What the bloody hell has gotten into you, Granger?" Draco began to scoot further away from her, as if her temporary insanity would rub off on him if he even brushed up against her, "Why the hell are you acting like that bloody Sir Cadogen?"

Her original thought was to continue to act crazy, make him leave her alone for good, but then she was struck by the realization that she would miss their constant arguments and the way his eyes glowed when he spoke her name...

"Bloody hell!" Hermione had enough of him constantly interrupting her thoughts and getting in the way of her concentration, so she decided to take the most dangerous and irrational answer her mind could think of to her dilemma; she crossed the room in four quick strides, grabbed Draco's head so he couldn't move, and kissed him full on the mouth.

His hands had flown to cover her own when she had grabbed him, but as the kiss continued he slowly let them travel down the length of her arms and traced her spine, groaning against her lips as one of her hands snaked around his neck, the other tangling fingers in his silky hair.

Hermione couldn't help but groan with pleasure as she nibbled on Draco's lip, asking entry and feeling him grant it a few seconds later, allowing her to explore new tastes and sensations that Draco's kiss was giving her.

It didn't matter that he was a Slytherin, that he was worst enemies with her best friends. All that mattered was this moment, the way he made her feel and the fact that she was finally experiencing what she had been daydreaming about for years, house rivalries be damned!

Unfortunately, the need to breath became overwhelming and the two teenagers broke apart, leaning against each other for support and not fully relinquishing their hold on each other. It took a full fifteen minutes before either of them spoke, and it was Draco who broke the silence.

"What..." He gasped, utterly floored by the girl leaning against him and grateful for the table that was supporting him, otherwise he probably would've slid to the floor. "the bloody hell... was that?"

Twisting slightly, so that she could see him better, Hermione was pleased to see that his face was as flush and heated as hers was. "I don't know, but I think the castle moved..."

"The castle always moves," Draco murmured, running his fingers along the base of Hermione's neck, causing her to shiver slightly, "But I'm not against trying to make it do so again. What about you?"

The only response he got was her lips crashing against his again, causing him to growl deeply as her hands slipped under his shirt...

--

Making his way to breakfast the next day, Ronald Weasley was surprised to see a very ruffled Hermione Granger make her way through the portrait hole and into Griffindor's common room.

"Don't tell me you fell asleep in the library again," Ron sighed, causing Hermione to jump slightly before she realized who was speaking.

"No, no, it was nothing like that," Hermione knew she sounded breathless, but she didn't care; she had just spent the night in Draco Malfoy's arms, she could die happy now. "I just had a very... exercising study session."

Darting past Ron before he could say anything more, Hermione almost made it the girl's dormitory before running into Harry on the landing that separated the two sleeping arrangements.

"Are you coming to breakfast with us, Hermione?" Harry asked, smiling that smile that made most girls swoon, but just made her slightly guilty of her recent actions. "Hey, Herms, are you okay? You look a little pale..."

Jumping on the excuse not to join them for breakfast, Hermione quickly stated, "I'm just a little tired, I've been up all night cramming for the upcoming quiz. I finally solved that one problem that was giving me such grief."

"What was it?" Harry asked, gaining new interest in his friend, "What was the answer to a question that stumped **you**, Hermione?"

Brushing past him, she simply replied, "The answer eluded me because it was simply an illogical conclusion."

_That I'm in love with Draco Malfoy, fifth year Slytherin._


	4. Confession

**Chapter Four: Confession**

I was, as completely pansy as this may sound, totally walking on air, barely aware of the strange looks I was getting, probably from the fact that I had a smile that was a mile wide on my face. My smile grew, if that was possible, as I thought of the looks I was probably get if they knew **why** that smile was there...

"Hey, Draco!"

I spun around, ready to give whoever it was a hearty hello and inquire if they were having as great a day as I was – Man! I was really starting to sound like a poof! - before the person who had called out my name came into view.

Pansy Parkinson, the one girl that could totally deflate my good mood just by breathing, was walking toward me, a vision of disgust and disdain with enough make-up to do a clown proud.

Reason # 122: My Hermione wore little or no make-up and still looked beautiful.

I quickly looked for a way out of the incoming disaster heading my way; after spending the night with my Hermione, who showed me just how bloody chivalrous those Griffindors were by not going further than our kisses, I couldn't find it in me to even pretend that I was interested in Pansy anymore.

"Draky! Wait up!!" Darting down a side corridor, I was running full out before a hand reached out from nowhere and jerked me behind a statue, knocking the wind out of me.

"Why, if it isn't Draco Malfoy!" To my absolute horror and a brief moment were I thought that maybe Pansy wasn't so bad, I realized that a red-haired sixth year was leaning over me, his double only a few feet away. "What gives, Hermione? Why d'you pull **him** in here?"

Craning my neck, I saw that my Hermione was looking at my prone form with a blush covering both her cheeks and a good part of her face as well. The only thought going through my head was _Damn, she got a strong arm _as she started speaking. "I needed to talk to him for a moment... Professor Snape teamed us up in Potions and I want to make sure he did the homework."

Wondering if she knew how red her face gets when she lies and whether or not the Weasley twins would notice, I looked around at my surrounding while trying not to move: One of the redheads had his foot on my throat.

We were in a concealed room that looked as if it hadn't been inhabited in years if there wasn't various cauldrons bubbling in random places about it in various colors. I was pretty sure this was were the Weasleys did most of their product making. It was pretty impressive that they got all this past Filch, the Squib almost had a lookout everywhere.

Only slightly surprised that I had complimented a Weasley, I quickly came to the realization that I didn't have anything against the redheads, just Ron. He seemed to have this special ability to annoy the hell out of me. I wonder why...

"Alright, Hermione," I was suddenly brought back into the conversation and my throat wasn't as constricted as I was pulled roughly to my feet, "We'll be right outside if you need us."

The more ginger colored twin gave me an extra glare before they snuck out of the room, making me wonder what I had done **this** time to make a Weasley mad at me. After a few minutes, I couldn't think of anything and I also realized that my Hermione hadn't said anything.

Looking over to were she was standing, I saw why, she was staring at me with her contemplative look: Brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, lip being worried between her teeth and she sighed heavily every few minutes. The fact that I had that look leveled at me immediately put me in 'defense mode'.

"You keep chewing on your lip like that and you'll leave scars, **Hermione**," Her name was said slowly, almost as if I could caress her with words and was supremely pleased that a deep blush took up were the last left off.

"What happened last night, Malfoy?" The fact that she tore her eyes away from mine didn't hurt as much as the fact that she was calling me by my surname again. I thought we had gotten past that...

"Draco."

My sharp retort made her look my way before snapping her eyes back to the floor. "What?"

"I'm not answering a thing unless you call me by my name," This time it was I that crossed the room and took Hermione's face in my hands, "Dra-a-co-o. **Draco**. Say it, **Hermione.**"

Her face bright red and warm in my hands, my Hermione's rather impressive speaking prowess was reduced to an embarrassed stammer.

"D-d-d-d-Draco?"

"Yes, Hermione?" I drawled, if I was I cat I probably would've purred at the reaction that I got from brushing my thumb across my Hermione's bottom lip; her eyes widened and her mouth parted in a silent request.

A request I was only too happy to oblige, but before our lips could meet she asked that damn question yet again.

"What happened last night?"

Talk about ruining the moment. Groaning, I moved back and took a good look at the woman that was slowly driving me insane and realized why she kept asking that infernal question.

She was scared.

Her whole body was stiff and she was holding herself away from me, almost as if she was frightened to touch me, didn't trust herself to, and that bothered me so much that, instead of my original action, I let my hands drop and grabbed hers in a reassuring grip.

"Nothing happened, despite my good looks and suave insistence. You really know how to deflate a guy's ego, Hermione."

She smiled softly at my joke, which made me feel ten feet tall, and continued with whatever thought was stuck in that lovely head of hers.

"I mean, what happened between the two of us? What do I – Did you – What happened, Draco?"

Reason # 123: My Hermione was sweet even when she was confusing, or confused herself.

I closed my eyes and smiled; I had been doing that a lot lately, making lists of reasons why my Hermione was a gem among shite. It was almost as if I was trying to convince myself of something. I also realized that I was starting to mentally call her 'my Hermione' and decided to be careful not to say that out loud.

"I don't know."

I opened my eyes to see that my answer was not the reply my Hermione was looking for, but I couldn't tell her the truth when I didn't know all of it myself. That wouldn't be fair, for either of us.

"You have to know," my Hermione refuted, shaking her head, causing her toffee locks to bounce around her face, "I wasn't the only one in that library and I certainly wasn't the only one doing all the kissing and -"

"If your voice gets any higher those Weasley twins will come in here and I'll certainly be the only one in a bloody hell of a lot of pain." I interjected, wincing slightly as I thought of the rather colorful way the Weasley twins would go about 'punishing' me. I reminded myself not to get on their bad side.

My response made her snap her mouth shut so fast I was surprised that she didn't chip a tooth. I smiled at the thought of Hermione Granger protecting me from her best friend's brothers.

"When did you start doing that?" my Hermione asked bringing me out of my little daydream.

I was confused. "Do what, smile?"

She smiled herself before replying, "No, when did you start calling Fred and George 'the Weasley twins'?"

"I always called them that," I shook my head, did I really not remember calling them anything else? Ron was the only one I had a problem with, he was the only one I insulted... right?

Brow still furrowed, she thought for a moment before nodding and retorted with, "Then why do you call Ronald 'The Weasel' whenever you see him?"

"I don't like him, obviously," I sniffed, not really liking the direction the conversation was going. If she expected me to start being chummy with that Weasel... the Weasel that got to spend so much time with her and only treated her like a glorified spell-check... Nobody could make me be friends with him, not even my Hermione could get me to do that!

"Why?" The question was hesitant, as if she thought I'd yell at her for asking or that she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. I wasn't sure which it was and knew she wouldn't tell me if I asked.

"I dunno, he just irritates me. Potter isn't as bad as he is sometimes, surprising as that may be." My answer made her smile for some strange reason, and I never let something like that slide, "What?"

"You just admitted to someone bothering you more than Harry!" my Hermione did a little dance and even **clapped** her **hands**, completely oblivious to the fact that said person was her other best friend. "That means there's hope!"

_Hope? For what?_ I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to spoil her mood. Funny, if you'd have told me that I would care more about Hermione Granger's feelings than my own, I would've laughed in your face; yet, here I was, just watching as she celebrated and keeping in all the questions I wanted to ask.

And I finally had my answer to her question, or part of answer. It would have to do until I got the rest sorted. I was slightly surprised that I didn't notice sooner, but maybe I didn't want to, or was too stubborn to admit it.

"Hermione," My voice made her stop as easily as if I had yelled at her. I was also a little surprised at how hesitant it had gotten: Malfoys are never hesitant, nor do we show fear. "I... I think I have an... an answer to your question; but, I'm not sure you'll like the answer..."

Her chocolate eyes widened as her feet stilled, making me swallow nervously. I briefly wondered if there was something wrong with me; I was never this freaked when I was going to ask Pansy out, or any other girl for that matter.

Maybe it was because I knew they say yes, maybe it was only because our relationships were ones of appearance, not affection. I didn't feel the same, or as deeply, about the other girls as I did about my Hermione... I wasn't in love with **them**.

In love with... The last thought resounded in my head as loud as a bass drum and just as deafening. My knees felt weak, my hand were shaking like leaves in a storm and I suddenly had a hard time breathing as the truth finally set in: I was in **love** with Hermione Granger.

Bloody hell...

Either I just said that last thought out loud or some of the shock I was feeling had shown on my face, for Hermione had stopped just standing there, staring at me, and put her hands on my face, peering at me closely and babbling, "Are you alright? You look as if you've seen the Bloody Baron!! Do I need to take you to the Hospital Wing? Draco..."

It was then that the Weasley twins decided that I had been left alone with Hermione for long enough and came bursting through the concealed door, only to stop short in shock.

Try seeing it through their eyes: Draco Malfoy, evil snarf of Slytherin, nose-to-nose with Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend, hands gripping her arms-which I had grabbed when she began babbling-while her hand were on his face. I could almost **see **the thoughts going through their heads as easily as I could see their hands inch toward their wands and, in an act of self-preservation, I released Hermione's arms.

One of the boys snarled and started forward before he was restrained by his double, who asked, "What, in Merlin's name, is going on here?!"

I swallowed, not sure how to describe something I had only just now discovered. I opened my mouth to reply with a half-arsed explanation that they probably would see right through when Hermione beat me to it.

"We had been discussing the homework, comparing notes, when Malfoy suddenly turned green and pitched forward. I had gone to grab him, but only succeeded in making sure our heads didn't collide when he grabbed my arms to steady himself."

Blinking rapidly, I tried to look as if this was old news and probably failed epically at it. I couldn't believe what I had just heard; Hermione Granger, **lying**, and for the **second** time that day.

Both of the boys looked at Hermione, who flushed under their intense scrutiny, but held her ground beside me, which made me feel honored and completely worthless at the same time.

What I had I done to deserve her covering for me? Every year, ever since I had met her and found out that she was Muggleborn, I had done nothing but degrade her and her friends, call her every name under the sun and even going as far as to find every possible way to get Potter in trouble.

Ignoring the argument around me, I pushed past the twins-and received a push in return-and made my way out of the concealed room, also ignoring Hermione's cries for me to come back.

I had fallen in love with a girl that was way out of my league and deserved someone way better than me; son of a Death Eater and a Muggle hater, the worst combination possible for some one like Hermione, who treated all with respect and kindness.

I stopped in the midst of a deserted hallway, frowning darkly. No, that was my father's type of thinking, only he would've played it though **Hermione** was the one who had no chance with **me**. He was so obsessed with breeding and being the most feared/respected that it was starting to rub off on me...

"No more," I whispered, pushing my father's 'lessons' on the purity of blood to the farthest reaches of my mind, where they wouldn't bother me and just be forgotten. "No more, father. I will make my own path and follow in your footsteps **no more**."

Hearing someone coming up behind me, I spun around, ready to tell them to bugger off and bother someone else, but I stopped when my eyes connected with a pair of toffee colored orbs that were narrowed in concern.

"You certainly can cover ground when you want to," Hermione panted, putting her hands on her hips. "What did you run away for?"

I looked at her, wondering what she would say if I told her I loved her. Would she be disgusted? Maybe last night in the library had been a one time thing and the only good memory I would have of Hermione Granger would be of those heated, heavenly kisses.

Then again, after the way she responded in the library, maybe she would be pleased, exuberant even, telling me she had always felt the same as she held me close and then we would kiss each other passionately, one kiss turning into another, and another, and another...

Yeah, right.

"Draco?" I came to Earth to find Hermione waving a hand in my face, a bemused and slightly worried look on her face. "Are you alright? You're not going to run away again, are you?"

I snatched her hand, which made her let out a little squeak of surprise before I laid a kiss against the palm, smiling at her and murmuring, "I'm just fine, Hermione, just fine. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

The action made her blush, as probably did my light teasing, but she didn't pull away, which was a good sign for what I wanted to say next. Yet, before I could speak, Hermione had questions of her own to ask.

"Will you answer my question, then?" Her brows would connect soon if she kept glaring at me like that. I needed to do something to smooth out my Hermione's face... After a minute, I knew what to do.

"What question?" I asked, placing a kiss against her fingertips and watching as her blush immediately darkened and her eyes widened in surprise. Of course, when dealing with Hermione, that didn't deter her from her little interrogation.

"Why did you run out of the room? I had convinced Fred and George that you had gotten sick before you dashed out of there. Then I had to explain how someone so ill could move so fast," She raised an eyebrow at the smirk that grew at the mental picture she gave me. "What made you leave?"

"I realized something, Hermione, something that made me need to get away and think about without a full out argument being snapped out in my ear." I drawled, which made her look abashed for a second before her eyes narrowed again.

"What was that?"

I looked at her for a second, took in every detail of her light face, with no tan from her constant studying, deep chocolate eyes that had the power to make me a pile of goo from just one look and ruby lips that I couldn't seem to stop kissing...

She fit like the missing part of me that I didn't even know was gone as I pulled her close and whispered my greatest fear and deepest pride in her ear, praying to Merlin that this didn't end in my heart being ripped out stomped on.

"I'm in love with you, Hermione Granger. Deeply, completely, and irreversibly in love."

--

_A/N: Hey, y'all. So sorry for the wait, but I think I had the mother of all writer's block when I was trying to write this chapter. The confession part made me want to pull my hair out, but then I figured, being Draco, that he would simply state his feelings, blunt and no frills. If this is OCC, please tell me and I'll try to fix it._

_Anyway, hoped you liked it. Please review, whether you did or not and tell me what you liked or thought needed some work._

_Until next time!_


	5. Confusion

**Chapter Five: Confusion**

Hermione Jane Granger was a very logical and reasonable witch, she thrived on facts and explanations; she would spend hours going over tomes and books so that she could face any problem thrown her way with grace and ease, answering clearly and effectively...

**Nothing** could have prepared her for the admission that had left her utterly speechless and completely floored. As a matter of fact, if Draco Malfoy hadn't been embracing her so tightly, she was sure she would've slid to the floor in shock.

_"I'm in love with you, Hermione Granger. Deeply, completely, and irreversibly in love."_

He had just admitted he loved her, something she had only dreamed of happening ever since she started noticing boys as more then friends and all she could do was simply stand there, held up by his strong, muscular arms, struck dumb with shock.

"Hermione? Are you in there? Hermione?" Draco's voice couldn't seem to register in Hermione's frazzled brain until he held her at arm's length and looked into her eyes, "Are you alright? Oh, Merlin, do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?!"

Draco's worried voice barely pierced through the mantra of his confession repeating in her head and it dawned on Hermione that, not only was she making Draco worry about her, she was probably hurting him as well; what with her silence after he had finally confessed his feelings to her.

The knowledge shot through her like an Unforgivable to the heart; what if he thought she didn't feel the same way? What if he took those wonderful words back? **What if she never heard them again??**

"No!" Hermione cried, heart clenching as she thought of how Draco must be feeling, to admit that he loved her to only be greeted with silence; however, her outburst turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

Draco's eyes immediately shuttered, a cold glaze covering the loving expression that had been directed at her only moments before, making her gasp as his arms dropped to his sides, hands clenched in tight fists as he spun on his heel.

"I see..."

"You- Wait, Draco!" Hermione realized that Draco had taken her cry as a sign of denial, a sign that she had refused his feelings when she had to make him see that wasn't the case! She stalled him with a hand on his shoulder, wincing at the tensing in his frame. "You don't understand! I want-"

"Please tell me that sentence doesn't end with 'us to just be friends'," Draco interjected, spinning around and gripping Hermione's shoulders in a vice-like hold, "or that you want to pretend it never happened, because I don't want to **just** be your 'friend', nor can I pretend something so wonderful never happened! I want to be so much more than 'friends' and I thought you felt the same way too!"

His intensity was both scaring and thrilling Hermione in equal amounts, as she realized she had always longed for a boy to talk to her, or even about her, so hotly, passionately; but she was afraid of what his next words would be, for Draco Malfoy was far from finished.

"That night in the library meant a lot to me, Hermione, but I guess it didn't mean as much to you." His breathing was coming out in short bursts as he brought their faces only centimeters apart. "You could've said something instead of stringing me along, I bet you were laughing it up with Potter and that Weasel, huh? 'Let's make Draco fall in love, then brake his heart!' Was all of this some bloody game?!"

Tears were now flowing Hermione's cheeks, but they weren't from the painful grip Draco had on her, tightening with every inflection; they were from the words he was throwing in her face, the fact that he thought the whole thing was some kind of joke and that he had been merely a pawn in it.

"Oh, Draco..." Hermione reached up to cup his cheek, feeling the muscles under her fingers tensing, but he didn't move away as she brought her other hand up to caress the right cheek as well. "It isn't like that, not at all. **I'm **not like that, I was just shocked, that's all..."

"Shocked that I could love you? Or was it that I could even love at all?" Draco muttered, and Hermione could tell that he was fighting not to lean into her hands in the way his eyes were clenched closed, his grip on her shoulders more of a barrier than a hold.

Running her thumbs along his lower jaw, Hermione smiled at the barely inaudible moan that snaked past Draco's lips. She loved the fact that she was able to affect him so with a simple touch. After a few more minutes of the pleasant torture, Hermione answered his question.

"No, it was the fact that, out of all the girls at Hogwarts, you fell in love with **me**. That's only something that I had dreamed about for ages..." Hermione turned red at the smirk that bloomed across Draco's face as she realized what she just said. "I-I mean... What I meant..."

"Been dreaming about me, Hermione?" Draco's body slowly began to unfold itself and he allowed himself to barely nuzzle his cheek against Hermione's palm. "And what exactly is wrong with you? What's wrong with me loving Hermione Granger? Besides our houses being enemies and all..."

Biting her lip at the reminder, Hermione responded with "Well, how about the fact that you and your cronies spent all of your free time teasing me for most of the three years I was at Hogwarts!"

As a matter of fact, Hermione could pinpoint the exact day that he stopped bullying and teasing her, the Yule Ball, Fourth Year. He had been exceptionally evil to Harry, but had flat out ignored her altogether.

_What had made him so distant?_

Wincing slightly, Draco's customary grin slipped, before he hitched it back up again. "Well, we always tease the ones we love, don't we? Maybe all my teasing was just a way of dealing with my immature denial..."

"Even if that was true, what is there to like about me? Plain ol' Hermione Granger. Look at me, Draco." Hermione asked, straightforward and realistic, almost as if she was gathering data for a study. "There's nothing there to like."

Yet, the once over Draco Malfoy gave her made her feel a whole lot less like the studious bookworm and a whole lot more like the hormonal schoolgirl. The change was strange, but not entirely unwanted.

"I beg to differ."

The word were spoken ever so softly, huskily, and they made Hermione wonder just what Draco would do to prove to her that she was just as desirable as he believed her to be.

He started at the top of her head, running fingers through her tangle of chocolate colored curls before looking deep into her eyes so she could see the smoldering desire that was reflecting in his crystallized depths. It was like looking into a blazing fire, and Hermione had to look away for fear of being burnt merely by staring too long.

Draco then lowered his gaze to stare at her lips, making her lick them nervously. The action seem to make him temporarily forget what he was doing, until, with a deep groan, he moved his eyes to other aspects of her body, stopping **there** and **there**_. _By the time he was done, Hermione was sure her blush reached all the way to her curled toes along with a strange and powerful inner heat.

"Oh, yes, I'm going to have to say you're wrong on this one." Draco's voice was as deep and warm as his eyes, which were still shimmering with that hidden silver fire that made electric shocks spring up all over Hermione's skin, making her shiver delightedly and an answering heat from her body rise up between them. "I can see **many** things to like about you, Hermione."

Giggling, Hermione whispered, "You seem to know exactly what to say to make a girl feel good, Draco. You must have had a lot of practice... Just how many times have you practiced that little look you just gave me, huh?"

Hermione didn't know why she was asking Draco all this, she just had this unexplainable need to know if she was one of a kind, or merely one in a long list. For a girl who needed an answer for everything, the prospect was rather daunting.

"Hmm, let's see..." Draco actually seemed to be considering her question! Do that mean he really had used that look on every girl he ever dated? "About thirty six different times, Hermione."

Apparently he had. Quite a few times.

"Oh," Hermione tried not to show how disappointed she was; of **course** Draco had dated before, but **thirty six times**? Even for someone as amazing as Draco Malfoy, with his bad boy attitude and model good looks, that was a bit much! Did he say he loved them to each of them? Is that how he reeled them all in? "I guess you got it down to just about right..."

Hermione was suddenly brought back to Earth by Draco's soft chuckle. Was he laughing at her? Meeting his gaze angrily, she saw that his eyes were lit with a mischievous twinkle that made her heart skip a few times, effectively melting her anger away. Just how did that sneaky Slytherin **do** that?

"Each is for one day... every month... since Second Year... that I'd fantasize about holding you in my arms and admitting how I felt. The place was always changing, but one thing stayed the same; you always said you felt the same way..." Draco smiled slightly, "Have I scared you away yet?"

Ah, that's how.

Hermione smiled in return, wrapping her arms around Draco and nestling her head in the crook of his neck, exhilarated by the feeling of familiarity and comfort she found there, "No, you haven't scared me away, you'll **never** scare me away."

"I'm glad to hear that, my Hermione, for I don't plan on going anywhere either," Draco crooned, finally enjoying the feeling of Hermione's warm body pressed against his own. Nuzzling even closer, he continued, "I got a fistful of your love and now I can't get enough."

Hermione giggled at the memory, until Draco's words hit her subconscious; causing her to once more lose the impressive vocabulary she worked so long to accumulate, leaving her stammering as a wild hope bloomed within her chest. "W-what did you just call me, Draco?"

Pulling away, Draco's eyes took on that closed, shuttered look that Hermione had just managed to remove only minutes before, killing the hope as quickly as it had been born. Something had happened that made him respond in a dead, cold voice, "Nothing, it's not important."

"B-but, Draco-" Hermione wasn't upset, on the contrary, hearing the words 'my Hermione' being spoken from Draco's soft lips were another dream come true; yet, it seemed like said boy was regretting he ever uttered them.

"I said it's not important!" With a note of finality, Draco released his hold on Hermione, causing her to stumble, turned and stomped off; leaving her utterly bewildered behind him, unable to understand what just happened.

_He had just called me 'his' Hermione. __**His**__! Why did that make him run away? And right after he said he wouldn't leave!_ For the second time in her life, Hermione was once more confronted with a problem that she was unable to solve, despite her extensive knowledge of spells and charms.

_There's no spell I know that can solve this, no charm to make this all easier... Not only did I fall in love with a __**Slytherin**__, but it's __**Draco Malfoy**__!! The entire Griffindor house's worst enemy! What do I do now?!_

Several people were now filling up the empty hall that she had spent the previous moments with Draco in, but Hermione wasn't paying attention to them. Paying no mind to the odd looks her and completely oblivious to the fact that she standing in the middle of the hall muttering to herself, Hermione tried to figure out what to do with an old, yet new, man in her life.

Nothing would come to her mind, no matter how hard Hermione tried, and it wasn't until she realized that she was considering a trip to the library that Hermione finally figured out why.

She was thinking with her head, and this whole thing was a matter of the heart, an organ that was completely foreign and foreboding to her. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Hermione admitted to herself something she swore never to do; she needed help, badly.

"Hey, Hermione!"

Speak of the Griffindor! Hermione silently thanked Merlin for hearing her unasked plea before turning to the girl making a beeline toward her, plastering a smile she wasn't really up to feeling on her face.

"Parvati!" Hermione cried, loud enough tho make the girl and, several people standing around her, start slightly as she ran toward her fellow house-mate. "You are just the person I was looking for!"

"I am?" The teenager was confused for a few minutes before her face broke into a wide grin. "Does this have anything to do with Harry? It does, doesn't it? What is it? Is he asking about me?"

"Umm... No, I'm sorry, it doesn't and no, he hasn't," Hermione replied, unwilling to point out that Harry had shown no other interest in her after his desperate request as a date in fourth year. She didn't want to hurt the girl, knowing what it was like to have feelings for someone who didn't feel the same.

Thankfully though, the boy in her case actually **had** feelings for her, so Hermione needed to ask her question before Parvati went off in a monologue of Harry's numerous outstanding points and try to weasel some information out of Hermione on ways to win him over. "I need a favor."

It worked: Parvati's gears seemed to switch into overdrive as her eyes widened, then gleamed as she squealed very loudly and happily, "**Really**?? You, Hermione? What kind of favor?"

Swallowing hard and closing her eyes tight against the barrage of questions that was sure to follow, as well as Parvati's signature 'girly scream', Hermione whispered, "It's really important... I want you to tell me about... well, I want you tell me about... **boys**."

Sure enough, the resounding shriek was loud enough to temporarily deafen Hermione, as well as the people within a ten foot radius, and send multiple suits of armor running from their perspective posts.

"Merlin's beard! I thought you never ask about that!" Parvati was bouncing up and down so much, Hermione was sure the arm she had grabbed was going to fall off, "I figured with all the books you read, you would be a pro at this kind of stuff! About **any **kind of stuff!"

Hermione mentally winced at the fact that those had been her initial thoughts as well, before replying heartily, "Well, there has to be things that even **I **don't know, right?" and was reward with an equally annoying giggle.

_Draco Malfoy, you are __**so**__ lucky I'm in love with you! Merlin's staff, if it were anyone else, I would've given them up as a bad job a long time ago! What is it about you that completely ruins my common sense?_

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Parvati's voice, thankfully, had dropped a few octaves as see peered at Hermione's flushed face, "You looked like you got a fever or something. You wanted me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"

"No, I'm fine," Hermione answered, smothering a grin at the fact that it was the second time someone had offered to take her to the Hospital Wing. Did she really look that feeble? "I think we're getting off track..."

"Right," With that one word, Parvati leaned forward until she and Hermione were nose to nose, grinning like the cat who ate both the canary and cream, simply asking, "Who is he?"

"Huh?" Hermione was only a little confused, she was the brightest witch of her year after all, and a whole lot of worried that she knew what Parvati was talking about, even more that she somehow **knew**.

"Come on, Hermione," Parvati scoffed, confirming her suspicions, "Even **you** won't ask a question like that unless there was a reason, unless there really was a guy involved. So, who is he? Is a Griffindor?"

Not wanting to tell Parvati about Draco until she at least discussed it with Harry and Ron first, Hermione figured the only way out of this was to be as literal as she could. "No, he's not a Griffindor."

"So there **is** a guy!" Parvati squealed once more, making the returning suits of armor take off again, clanking and clamoring down the hall. "Merlin's beard, there's so much we have to do! First of all, we have to get you some decent clothes, maybe a spell to tame your hair..."

Exhaling slowly, Hermione was grateful for once at the fact that Parvati was such a boy chaser and could be deterred easily. It saved a lot of trouble and even more nasty questions that know-it-all Hermione didn't have for a change.

"Maybe we should get Ginny and Lavender in on this as well," Parvati continued, much to the growing dismay of the girl beside her, "Lavender knows more about waxing then all the girls in Griffindor Tower put together and I **swear** Ginny uses a spell to make her hair flow the way it does..."

Then again, maybe asking Parvati for her help hadn't been such a good idea after all, if this was going to be the consequences; the whole girl's dormitory were going to find out Hermione's secret before she could even think of telling Harry and Ron!

For the second time that day, Hermione Granger found herself cursing Draco Malfoy's name.

_A/N: I know a bunch of you are probably either really confused, or pretty pissed off at me, but please, don't kill me! I promise that it will all make sense in the end, and if you kill me, nobody will be able to write this story!!_

_This one did give me a bit of trouble and I would appreciate it if you guys could tell me, __**nicely!**__, if there are any mistakes so I can fix them. Also, if you guys have an idea for a scene, I'll see if I can put it in here, maybe even with a cameo of the reviewer!_

_So, until next time, dear readers!_


	6. Truths

**Chapter Six: Truths**

Draco Regulus Malfoy ran; he ran through the halls, past classrooms and over the grounds to the Great Lake. Stripping himself of his outer garments, he dived into the cool, clear water and swam with all his strength, swam until his limbs were sore; all the while trying to out run the voice in his head that was repeating the word _coward, coward, coward_ over and over, no matter how hard he tried to stop it.

Draco Malfoy was a coward; for, right after he had sworn not to follow in his father's footsteps, that he would make his own way and decisions, Draco had turned tail and ran at the thought of Hermione Granger returning his feelings. Of her actually loving him, despite the fact that he was a Slytherin and largely defined as a 'slimy git'.

It scared him, more than he would like to admit. It wasn't Hermione herself that frightened him, he was perfectly happy in that respect. The depth of the emotion that she showed him in just one glance had scared him shiteless.

Draco thought he knew what love was, that he had been loved all his life, but he was mistaken. When he said that he loved Hermione, he meant holding her in secret, but shunning her in public. Treating her like a lover by night, but enemy by day. All it took was one look in her eyes, and all his walls broke.

Every wall he had built, every defense he made to keep anyone away from getting too close. His father's motto had been ingrained into him since birth; 'Never let them see you feel, it shows weakness and they will exploit it.' He believed that to be the creed of life and never questioned it.

Then he looked into Hermione's clear, toffee colored eyes and he was lost. Utterly and completely throw by the multitude of emotions that flew across her face in the matter of seconds it took him to realize just how deeply her love went and how unfair it was for him to submit her to his shallow claim of the same feeling.

He had seen acceptance, no matter who was watching; comfort, for any kind of pain, and affection, no matter what the obstacles. Those were just a few of the things he had seen and it had thrown everything out of proportion, for even though Draco had called her 'my Hermione', the truth was he wasn't ready to tell the world the same.

Even though he had vowed never to be like his father, Draco was terrified of what Lucius would think when he found out that his son was in love with a Muggleborn. He was horrified that he would end up with no home, no family, and no place in the world anymore.

Making his way back to the shore before his tired muscles gave out and he drowned, Draco felt the utter hopelessness of his situation threaten to overwhelm him; what was he suppose to do now?!

Draco had never experienced a love like this before, where the person was loved through desire, not duty or social status. It was exhilarating and frightening, wonderful and awful, all at the same time and Draco was afraid his head would explode from the weight of it all.

--

Hermione finally managed to shake off Parvati at the entrance of Griffindor Tower, promising to meet up with her later on in a deserted classroom to 'discuss' her new look. It would probably be full of giggles, shrieks, and more things that Hermione just didn't need right now.

Now that she was here, though, she was strongly considering the possibility of subjecting herself to that torture than admit to the two biggest 'I-hate-Draco-Malfoy' supporters that she was in love with 'the evil ferret'.

Swallowing hard, Hermione reminded herself that she was a Griffindor, and Griffindors were suppose to be courageous... even the ones that were wishing they had chosen the first House the Sorting Hat had offered.

"Dragonsbane," Hermione muttered, deciding to get this over and done with. Crawling through the opened portrait hole, she made her way to the boys' dormitory, stopping just short of knocking by a raised voices she knew.

"Are you completely off your rocker? That is the most insane idea I have ever heard!"

That would be Ron.

"You're the one who said he needed help, I was just giving you a suggestion," Harry's soft voice answered the outburst and Hermione felt a fresh wave of shame at the fact that she didn't tell him about Draco earlier. "Besides, I'm your best mate and we're the only ones here, what better time to try?"

Hermione's shame quickly turned into piqued interest as she heard Ron mumble out a inaudible reply that made Harry burst out laughing, surprising her at the sheer volume of it.

"Nothing could make me hate you! Sure, I was miffed at you in Fourth Year, but I could see where you were coming from now." Ron mumbled something again and Hermione could imagine Harry waving away his comment. "Would you rather I be a different boy and it get all over school?"

It seemed that Ron was completely incompetent of finishing a sentence and was losing whatever argument he was having with Harry, which made Hermione even more intrigued, more so than the fact that this was the happiest she had heard Harry in a long while; he seemed to enjoy making Ron squirm.

"Alright, alright! Let's get this over with!" Ron shouted amid Harry's chuckles and then the room was silent.

Pressing her ear to the door, Hermione was only able to hear a few scuffling noises, the rustle of the four poster's curtains before the silence was cut off by a low, happy groan.

Pulling away hastily, Hermione knocked on the door, listening to the sudden scrabble and waiting for the resulting crash and Ron's "Bloody hell!" before entering the boy's dormitory.

The scene before her was something right out of a movie and Hermione just had to giggle at the absurdity of it: Harry was sitting on his bed, reading _Quidditch Through The Ages_ and had smiled up at Hermione when she walked in, completely at ease. The look on his face gave nothing away and he was totally calm.

Ron, on the other hand, was half-way across the room, rubbing his toe and completely red, valiantly trying to avoid Hermione's gaze. He had the look of someone who **knew** he had done something and was mere seconds away from bursting out an apology.

"What's up, boys?" Hermione grinned, almost giggling again at the immediate outburst that came from Ron and the way Harry rolled his eyes at him.

"Nothing!" Ron's laughter sounded grated to Hermione's ears, as he opened his trunk and started throwing various things around the room, "Why would we be doing anything? We aren't doing anything!"

Harry could only stare exasperatedly at his friend as a pair of boxers went flying past his ear, followed by several school books and an old robe. "Ron, you make a bloody _terrible_ liar."

"I guess I'm not the only one that has something to confess," Hermione chuckled at the sudden panic that dominated Ron's face from the combined attack of his best mates comments.

--

Draco lay on the bank of the Great Lake, dressed in only his trousers and trainers, and watched as some First Years tickled the Giant Squid's tentacles and it let lose a sudden rush of air that could only be described as fishy laughter.

Smiling at the shrieks of joy, Draco found himself wishing for the days he was younger and everything was a whole lot easier. Where he could play with whoever he wanted, talk to whoever he wanted, love whoever he wanted... All that changed when he entered Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin House.

Turning on his robe, Draco sighed as the First Years coaxed a few of their friends to join them in their play, before running away and screeching as the Giant Squid blew a mist of water over them.

_They're so carefree, _Draco thought only half-bitterly, the other half was wistful. _**They**__ don't have to worry about angering a Death Eater father, or be expected to follow in his footsteps. __**They **__don't need to follow rules and regulations that were outdated fifty years ago, and __**they**__ certainly don't have to worry about being disowned for falling in love with a Muggleborn..._

Heaving another sigh, Draco got up off his robe and dusted himself off. There was nothing he could do about it now, he had admitted his feelings and was now going to have to face the consequences. Come hell or high water, Hermione Granger was going to be in his life.

Nodding to himself, Draco made to grab his shirt, intent on tracking Hermione down and apologizing for brushing her off, when a rustling in the bushes alerted him that someone was trying-very poorly-to sneak up on him.

Making no inclination that he noticed he was been badly stalked, Draco dropped his shirt and stretched, eyes casting about for where he had put his wand and judging how long it would take him to get to it before the person came stumbling in on him.

His wand was on the other side of his robe, between him and his perpetrator, about three feet, give or take a few inches... He could easily lunge for it and have it in his hand before the unknown person knew what he was doing.

Almost if they had heard his last thought, the bush-rustler sped up, not even trying to mask their various branch snapping and twig cracking. That meant one of two things; either he wasn't the designated target, or they didn't think him a threat. A feral smile crept across Draco's features, if it was the latter, they were in for a nasty surprise...

Right as the intruder broke through the brambles, stumbling very gracefully, Draco dived across his robe, snatched up his wand and stood in one fluid motion, his wand in the intruder's startled face.

Almost immediately afterward Draco's jaw dropped in shock as he realized who had just followed him from the castle and interrupted his solitude.

"What the hell are **you** doing here?"

--

"You're joking, right? There's no way you could be in love with that stinking, lying-" Ron started demanded angrily, making Hermione to flinch slightly before Harry punched him in the shoulder. Rubbing said shoulder, Ron decided to just glare as Harry moved over to sit by Hermione.

They were all sitting on Harry's bed, curtains drawn and the door to the boys' dormitory locked. Hermione had thought of a thousand ways to break the news of her recent activities to the two people she loved almost more than her parents, but as soon as she looked into Harry's sad emerald eyes, she just blurted out, "I'm in love with Draco Malfoy!"

There had been a sudden, all-encompassing silence, were both boys simply stared at her in shock while Hermione mentally punched herself in the face. _**Brilliant**__way to break the news! They probably think I'm under a Love Potion, or something..._

They stayed silent until Hermione had moved over and sat on Harry's bed; Ron had made his way back over and had immediately thought the whole thing was some sort of sick joke.

Harry had yet to say anything.

_But at least he isn't looking at me like I betrayed him. _As a matter of fact, Harry looked **understanding,** as if he knew how awful she was feeling, or was feeling the same way himself... but about who?

"The guy is a lying, foul-mouthed, back-stabbing cockroach!" Ron obviously wasn't finished with his rant, and was now waving his arms to emphasize his point. "How in the name of Merlin's Patronus could you **ever**-"

"Ron, shut up."

Harry's comment caused his friend to snap around to look at him, but his attention was rested solely on Hermione, who wished she was anywhere but under that penetrating glance, yet unable to look away as he asked, "Do you love him? Really and truly, no magic involved?"

_Knew one of them was going to bring that up, I just didn't think it was going to be asked so seriously... _"Yes, Harry," Hermione answered, fidgeting in the sudden silence, almost wishing Ron had ignored Harry's demand to be quiet. "Really and truly, no spells involved."

He didn't say anything, just stared at her, leaving Hermione with the distinct impression that Harry Potter didn't blink half as much as normal people and that it was as unnerving as Goyle suddenly quoting Shakespeare.

The awkward silence stretched out so long, Hermione was about to **tell** Harry to blink when he closed his eyes, exhaled sharply as he leaned forward and laid his forehead against her own. Barely daring to breathe, Hermione listened, her heart hammering in her chest, to Harry utter one word:

"Fine."

The response following that simple sentence was so loud, Hermione was glad they cast the _Muffliao _Charm on the surrounding curtains; the last thing they needed was someone to find them like this...

"You're not really agreeing to this, are you?" Ron demanded, staring between the two of his best mates as if he was trying to find out if they both lost their minds. "You can't be serious!"

"Of course not," Harry quipped, causing Hermione's heart to momentarily stop, before he continued with, "I'm Harry."

Dropping her head into her hands, not before she saw that Ron returned Harry's earlier favor of a fist to the shoulder, Hermione decided that made it was better if someone found them, after all.

--

Neville Longbottom fell over when he saw that Draco Malfoy had his wand in his face, his plan temporarily forgotten as his life flashed before his eyes. _There was so much I still wanted to do... I haven't even kissed a girl yet!!_

After a few minutes of quivering in fear, Neville came to the realization that Malfoy wasn't going to curse him into oblivion like usual and had actually asked him a question. Needless to say, Neville was a little shocked.

"H-huh?" He stammered, unsure if he was dreaming or not. Giving himself a quick once over, he realized that he wasn't; he would've been taller, stronger or something... Neville came back to Earth in time to hear Malfoy ask him the question again.

"I **said**," Malfoy sounded more confused than irritated, which caused Neville to wonder if there was some truth to that Polyjuice rumor going around, "what are you doing here? Why were to trying to sneak up on me?"

"I-I wasn't t-trying to s-sneak-" Neville stammered, damning the nerves that made every word out of his mouth a broken mess of gibberish, flinching as Draco's arm moved before he realized that he was extending a hand to him.

"W-what?"

Draco looked at him like he was simple, although it wasn't coupled with the superior look he usually gave him as well and the words that came out of Draco's mouth certainly would've made him fall over if he wasn't already on the ground: "I want to help you up."

Neville's jaw dropped, he couldn't help it, and Draco's trademark smirk found it's way onto his face as he reached down and grabbed Neville's arm, hoisting the startled boy to his feet faster than he could blink.

_Malfoy cursed me and I died, that's the only explanation for this. And I never told Ginny how I felt! Wait, maybe I'm not dead and all of this isn't really happening! Maybe..._

"Am I dreaming?" Neville blurted, flinching when Malfoy's smile dropped back into a frown. His stammer started back up again as he quickly tried to explain before Malfoy decided to curse him after all, "It's just that you're being too nice for this to be real life..."

A ghost of his earlier smile grew on Malfoy's face as he replied with, "No, you're not dreaming Neville, and I would appreciate it if you kept me out of any of your responding dreams in the future, if you don't mind."

It took Neville all of two seconds to figure out what Malfoy was saying, and when he did, the color of his face would've done a cherry proud. "That's just sick, Malfoy! Why would you even-UGH!!"

Malfoy startled Neville by bursting into laughter, hands hugging his sides and everything. Neville could only stare in shock as the boy he had always known to be regal and composed giggle like one of the girls. Yet, after a while, Neville also saw the humor in their situation and began to laugh himself.

"Well, **that's **something you don't see every day..."

Both boys spun around to face the new intruder and Neville was only slightly surprised that he managed to keep his feet while drawing his wand. _I must be losing my shock factor. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad._

"I guess I'll have to find out what you want later," Draco muttered, coming to stand next to Neville, who was reminding himself how to breath and stand straight at the same time.

For once, Neville had to agree with the Slytherin; what was standing in front of them was vastly more important than Neville's botched attempt at a sneak attack. Swallowing shakily, Neville was also glad he knew some healing spells from the many days he delved in Herbology and Healer training...

Having Harry Potter come across you conversing and laughing with a Slytherin, despite the fact that said Slytherin had caught you while trying to attack him, was not going to be a pleasant experience.

--

_**A/N: As always, tell me what you think. Also, one little thing:**_

_**Citrus. Yes, no, in a later chapter or sooner?**_


	7. Now Things Get Complicated

**Chapter Seven: Now Things Get Complicated**

Harry Potter was a relatively simple man; having a psychotic mass murderer out for your blood for unknown reasons ever since you were a baby tended to give one reason to appreciate the simpler things in life, yet it also made one extremely stubborn sometimes.

However, this particular day is not one of those times, so it is not significant to this part of our story, so we'll let that sit for now... but remember it, it's an important quirk of our favorite hero.

Harry's day had started out relatively simple; he had got up, ate his breakfast, and tried to make it through his day without blasting Professor Umbridge to itty, bitty, little pieces with a viciousness that even Voldemort would find impressive. Then his afternoon rolled around.

His first surprise he had come to face being when Ron had come up to the dormitory while Harry was planning out the next DA meeting and asked him to help with a little problem that he was having...

The problem turned out to be one that Harry had no qualms with, and actually enjoyed for the few seconds they had solving it before Hermione interrupted them. The only issue was that he wasn't sure if he answered Ron's dilemma, even though he figured out one of his own.

Ron refusal to admit anything was wrong was a bit funny to watch, what with his need to throw everything in his trunk around the room-including a few items that he immediately snatched back up, ears burning red-and it was also a little sad, for it meant that his best mate wasn't ready to admit how he felt yet. Harry didn't think that would hurt him as much as did, but it did...

Then Hermione had confessed to the impossible; that she was in love, in **love**!, with Draco Malfoy. A Slytherin; and not just any Slytherin, the one that had been calling her a Mudblood on an almost daily basis.

Ron's reaction was predictable, not to mention very loud; but, even though his own head was thrown for a loop, Harry's attention was focused on Hermione's face and the way her eyebrows seemed permanently drawn together. That only happened when something confused her, rare as that was.

"Ron, shut up."

Harry wasn't really sure who was more surprised by his sudden demand; Ron or Hermione, but he needed to figure something out quickly and Hermione being who she was, he was pretty sure she could help him solve it... as well as the fact that if his assumption was proved correct, Draco Malfoy was going to be bumped up above Professor Umbridge on Harry's personal shite list and, unlike his professor, Harry could-and would-hurt the ferret. Badly.

"Do you love him, Hermione? Really and truly, no magic involved?"

For some strange reason, his question caused Hermione to smile slightly as she fidgeted a little before answering with a soft sigh, "Yes, Harry, really and truly, no spells involved."

Harry looked at Hermione closely, trying to see if this was their best friend or some Malfoy obsessed idiot. From his little knowledge of Love Spells/Charms, Harry knew that the person infected usually would want nothing more than to prattle on about how they loved the other and as far as he could tell, other than become more erratically nervous by each passing minute, Hermione was steering her own ship.

Just as she opened her mouth to defend her cause, Harry released a heavy sigh of his own and rested his forehead lightly against his friend's, her mouth closing as she awaited his verdict.

There was just way too much going on this year, way too much to deal with, and he was having a hard time thinking straight; but one of his friends was in love and completely **happy** for a change, and Harry Potter would be damned right back to the Dursleys' if he was going to get in way of that... even if the one they were in love with was Draco bloody Malfoy.

"Fine."

Hermione's sudden, relieved smile almost made up for the fact that Ron had chosen right then to break past Harry's command of silence and start hollering like a hysterical banshee again... and Ron was always saying that Hermione was the over dramatic one!

Harry's ill attempt at humor just then made Hermione's eyes widen, which he felt temporarily guilty for, but the smile she gave him a second later told him that she had got the joke and that he had been forgiven.

Ron, however, was another matter entirely.

"Are the two of you completely and utterly mad?!?" Ron howled, looking from one of his friends to the other, a tic starting under his left eye. "Are you forgetting we're talking about Draco Malfoy??? The boy whose been calling Hermione a Mudblood since Second Year? The one who nearly got Hagrid sacked?!?"

Hermione had curled up on herself as Ron's tirade started, so that she was nearly burrowing into Harry's side in rarely shown fear, which caused a flare of anger to ignite inside him and he immediately lashed out at his best friend.

"Of course she knows, Ron! Hermione's not an idiot and she's never done anything without thinking it through... **thoroughly!!** Malfoy is a git, but there has to be something there for Hermione to think she loves him."

Squeezing her arm as he said that, Harry managed to deter a nasty argument that probably would've ended in someone getting cursed and since he was between the two of them, Harry really didn't want to get caught in the cross fire.

"I can't believe this," Ron's voice was incredulous as he came to the realization that he wasn't going to get the 'Malfoy-is-a-scumbag' support that was usually habit from Harry and Hermione since First Year. "You're seriously going to go out with that rat and you're going to let her?!?"

"Ron, if there is one thing I know, it's that you never** let** Hermione do or don't do something," Harry's comment made Hermione smile and remove herself from his side. Taking advantage of the opened personal space, Harry stood up and made his way to the common room.

"Where are you going?" Hermione was right on his heels, Ron two steps behind her as Harry passed through the mostly empty Griffindor common room to get to the portrait hole and he could swear that he could hear the unspoken demand in those words.

_Don't leave me alone with him!_

Harry looked back at his two friends, Ron's scowl etched into his face and the frown back between Hermione's eyes. Harry couldn't help smiling and it grew at the uneasy look that his friends shared. "I'm going to have a little chat with Malfoy. Now that you've taken an interest in him, I have a few things I wish to discuss..."

Ron's expression immediately transformed into one of fiendish glee and Hermione's worried frown grew even more pronounced as she quickly stated, "That's not really necessary, Harry, I don't think we really need to go that far-"

"Hermione," Harry interjected swiftly, reaching out and put a hand on her hunched shoulder, trying to express what he felt without sounding like a complete and utter idiot. He was always rubbish at these feelings stuff... "You and Ron are the very first friends I ever had and I care for both of you very deeply... Hermione, you're like a sister to me and I'm going to make sure that Malfoy knows that if he makes you cry, I'm going to hurt him... A lot."

Hermione's chocolate orbs were brimming with unshed tears when he finished his little speech and Harry was pretty sure that it was due to the fact that he rarely told them how he felt, because he felt like such a ponce about it. Nodding once very quickly, and awkwardly patting Hermione's shoulder, Harry made to leave when her voice stopped him once more.

"Does that mean you think of Ron as your brother?"

Harry turned to face his... well, his best mate for now, to better see how he would respond, but Ron was once again avoiding Harry's persistent gaze and he had to grin slightly before turning away because, let's face it, a blushing Ronald Weasley was simply just too cute.

"Not exactly, Hermione, it goes a little further than that." That was all Harry would say before ducking out of the portrait hole and try to find the little snarf he spent most of his time avoiding; thinking it was ironic that his best friend fell in love with the self-centered arse...

----0----0----0----0----

Pansy Parkinson was many things, not many of them pleasant, but the one thing that you could say about her without having a curse thrown in your face was that she was a very determined girl; she knew exactly what she wanted and would do whatever she needed to get that, kept it, and make sure that the whole world knew that it belonged to her and her alone.

Right now, what she wanted was Draco Malfoy, but she was starting to feel like he would be the one thing she wouldn't get, no mattered how hard she tried and that simply would not do.

Everything had been going according to plan until last year and that damn Yule Ball. Pansy cursed that day with every fiber of her being, for someone or some**thing** had happened that had caused Draco's unwavering devotion in her to dwindle until it was almost extinguished.

Worse still, there were whispers of Draco meeting a girl in remote places, but nothing was said of the girl's house, class or pedigree. Pansy would not allow someone beneath her to steal her Draco from her; she might be able to handle it if the girl was a pureblood, but nothing else would even be imaginable!

Now, it being said that Pansy was determined, it never meant that she was subtle; so within two weeks even the densest of males at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry knew that Pansy and Draco were on the rocky shore of relationships with Pansy trying with all her might to fix things and Draco not giving a damn either way.

Then the ill disguised whispers turned into openly discussed debates and Pansy found herself very close to crying in public. Tears of frustration were biting at the corners of her eyes every time a conversation would stop suddenly when she walked by, looks of pity being turned her way and the purrs of sympathy that were really hidden sneers of delight that kept being cooed at her.

Not able to take much more of the whispers and sidelong glances, Pansy decided to take matters into her own hands; she started following Draco around, terrified that the rumors were true ever since the day in the Slytherin common room when her Draky had suddenly pushed her away.

From a girl that knew Draco Malfoy's every move, every class, and what he ate for breakfast, Pansy was surprised at the fact that he managed to find ways to avoid her, the closest that she got was in the hallway today when he suddenly disappeared right in front of her eyes.

However, luck was on her side; later that day Pansy managed to spot Draco running from the castle half a mile ahead of her and she also managed to catch up to him and follow him without being seen this time. Her luck, and sanity, was tested when she caught up to him.

For, although he was a sexy vision in nothing but his boxers and bare chest glistening with water droplets-Pansy thanked whatever gods had created Quidditch, the fact that he was with Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom made her want to pull her hair out in sheer frustration, even when Neville hightailed it back to the castle.

Then they started talking, strange as that was, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy _talking_ and not trying to curse each other's bits off. During this bizarre anomaly was when Pansy's frustration evaporated, then that she finally had the answer for her question, then she finally knew who was stealing her property from her and just where this bitch was on the social ladder.

Pansy Parkinson was smiling darkly when she walked back up the steps of Hogwarts later that evening and it was not a pleasant sight to behold. In fact, it frightened a First Year so bad that he immediately decided to join the DA for reasons best left to the readers' imagination.

For Pansy Parkinson was a very determined girl, as previously stated, and she was also very angry. Being very angry and very determined were not a good mix for a certain brown-haired bookworm, because this Slytherin girl was going to make Hermione Granger's life a living hell from this day forward.

Nobody takes what Pansy Parkinson has her eye on, certainly not some stuck-up Gryffindor know-it-all!

-------0------0------0------

Neville Longbottom, commonly known throughout the whole of Hogwarts as being one of the most timid boys in Gryffindor, was having his courage tested that day. He always hated it when that happened.

When we last left our not-exactly-cowardly friend, he was staring at a very moody, and sometimes volatile, Boy-Who-Lived; whose friends were lucky enough to call Harry Potter, after being caught laughing with said boy's nemesis after being caught in a botched sneak attack.

Neville was once told that if you came face-to-face with an angry lion that you were to stare it down; look it right in the eyes and show no fear, so that it wouldn't see you as prey, it would see you as an equal beast. Neville had never thought that adage would ever apply to him, the boy who studied **plants** for Merlin's sake, in his life until this very moment.

"Well, **that's** something you don't see every day..."

Harry's voice had been mostly neutral, with the barest hint of laughter in it, and so it was hard to tell if he was angry or not. As a matter of fact, it was a daily gamble trying to figure out Harry Potter felt these days and the Weasley twins even **had** a gamble on whether he would blow up on someone this year from suppressed feelings.

"I guess I'll have to find out what you want later," Neville barely heard Draco muttering next to him; trying to figure out if the Chosen One was going to blast you all the way to Azkaban was a little more pressing than some uppity Slytherin, even if that Slytherin was Draco Malfoy.

"Um... Neville?" Hearing his name spoken made him jump, not too much, but enough to cause Harry and Draco to frown at him, "What are doing with Draco? Are you two friends now, too?"

"W-what?" It occurred to Neville that he was saying that a lot lately, although it was due to genuine confusion this time, instead of sheer surprise. "W-what d' you mean 'you two friends now too'? Who else is f-friends with D-Draco?"

"Relax, Longbottom," Draco sighed, completely at ease as he bent down and picked up his shirt and pulled it on. Neville wished he had that kind of confidence as Draco grabbed his trousers to don as well, "You're making the ground shake."

Frowning darkly at the blond, who took no notice, Harry shot a quick look between the two and shook his head almost imperceptibly. "I guess not, then... Nice to know that some things haven't changed..."

Despite the fact that Neville was generally a timid boy, that did not mean that he was a simpleton or ignorant. Many of his classmates were apparently unable to make that distinction and he was therefore ignored by the general population. Neville was, in fact, very bright and he understood that something had happened in past couple of days that had, incredibly, changed Draco Malfoy's status with Harry and his friends.

It was also the fact that Draco suddenly became so still he looked like he was just Petrified was a major clue as well, and it scared the boy much more than Harry's sudden appearance. The tension that suddenly coated the air made it so hard to breath that Neville found himself unable to speak past a large lump in his throat.

It was silent for a few uneasy moments and Neville cast his eyes about, searching for _some_ kind of topic to talk about, but other than a few leaves rustling around them, Neville was stuck floundering around.

"I guess you've talked to Hermione then," Draco's voice had broke the silence and Neville saw that he was staring at Harry with all the haughtiness that he ever mustered during the first three years they knew him. The boy who had been laughing freely moments ago was gone and the Ice Prince was back. "Whatever you want to say to me, Potter, say it now."

"Neville," Harry turned to the smaller boy, a look of exhaustion quickly passing across his face before it settled back into that everyday mask that Harry showed the rest of the world, including some of his friends. "Would you leave us alone for a little bit? Malfoy and I have something we need to... discuss."

Standing between the two boys was like standing between a bull and the idiotic matador waving a red flag in its face, and since this bull in question was Harry freaking Potter, Neville immediately took the opportunity to leave and booked.

Also, if either Draco or Harry came in latter with any injuries, bruises or Curse marks, Neville would fervently deny any and all responsibility of the two. He went for a walk and came back, that was his story and he was sticking to it!


	8. Neither Giving Up Nor Giving In

Chapter Eight: Neither Giving Up Nor Giving In

There was a heavy silence on the grounds that seemed to have everything in its grasp; there weren't any birds chirping, no leaves rustling, no waves from the Great Lake splashing, and the laughter that had floated through the air died as abruptly as if someone had Apperated all of the First Years off of Hogwart's front lawn.

That thought immediately brought back the memory of the Twiwizard Tournament last year and the awakening that I had been slapped with; not only of my repressed feelings for Hermione, but of the horrendous way my life was headed as well.

I shivered at the memory, but other than that, made no movement nor sound as I stood toe to toe with what many of the Wizarding World either believed was an attention seeking nut case or the greatest sorcerer since Dumbledore's time., and since it was common knowledge that Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who feared, **I** sure as spells wasn't going to be the first that spoke.

"Well, this is peachy," Potter finally sighed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "How is it that we can cause a fight with a simple twitch from the other, but are unable to even **start** a civil conversation?"

"We've had more practice with the fights," I replied as I also shifted slightly, although mine was due more to uneasiness rather than irritation. "It was the Weasel I was fighting with mostly, what with his inability to keep his loud mouth shut, you just got in the way."

"Don't call Ron 'the Weasel', Malfoy," Potter droned tiredly, no inflection behind his words at all as he finally dropping into a sitting position. "We aren't here to talk about him, or us, anyway."

Following Harry's lead and settling into a crouch, I allowed myself a moment for my old haughtiness to slip back into my demeanor. I was on edge and it was much more normal for me than this new, emotional, side Hermione drew out of me when we were together.

"Oh? Since when did you become Hermione's defender, Potter?"

His glare sent me crashing right back down to Earth. "Ever since you labeled her a 'Mudblood' and set the entirety of Slytherin House on her heels for three years. She is also one of my best mates, in case you didn't know, and I protect the people that are important to me."

"I never meant for that to happen and I **still** regret that it did," I heard myself whisper, my head sinking to my knees. "I had lived my whole life under the impression that if you had enough money, or if your blood was pure enough, you could get anything you wanted. When Hermione shoved it into my face like that-"

"You were forced to see that not everyone saw the world that way," Potter nodded slowly, almost as if he was confirming something. "That there was people who saw other things as more important than fame or purity... There may be hope for you yet, Malfoy."

_**That means there's hope!**_ At the sudden reminder of the girl that seemed to be turning my life upside down, but in a completely good way, I burst out laughing. Ignoring the befuddled look that Potter was giving me, I allowed myself a few minutes of unrestrained merriment.

"What, in the name of Merlin's robes, has gotten into you, Malfoy?" Potter asked me, his expression quickly evolving from confusion to outright fear, " I thought **I **was suppose to be the crazy one!"

"I was just remembering something Hermione said," I smiled, once more seeing the utter joy on my Hermione's face as she talked of the time that Potter and I would be best chums, when we wouldn't be at each other's throats all the time. Maybe she was on to something, we had been talking for at least five minutes without Cursing each other's bits off. "She basically said the same thing you did, that there was hope for us, me and her, to be together."

Potter gazed at me in a way that was so like Professor Dumbledore's X-ray gaze, I immediately threw up the Occlumency blocks that I learned last year. It didn't bother Potter in the slightest as he continued to stare before stating softly, "You've changed, Malfoy, I don't know how, but you've changed... Maybe Hermione was right to fall in love with you..."

I could only stare back at him, years of training and drills keeping my jaw from hitting the ground. Did Potter just say what I think he said? "What's that suppose to mean, Potter?"

"It means I'm not going to Curse you to oblivion, Malfoy," Potter lay down on the grass, his wand tucked away in his pocket, mine still in my hand. He was completely open and he knew it, but he made no move to defend himself. "It means that I'm going to accept the fact that you love Hermione and she loves you. It means, **Draco**, that I'm on your side in this. Yours and Hermione's."

My jaw finally hit the ground, despite my attempts to control it. I couldn't believe that Potter had given in like that, after only a few minutes of talking with me. I couldn't believe that he was letting Hermione, the girl I'm sure he loved like a sister, be involved with the son of a Death Eater. Top that all off with the fact that he had used my first name instead of my surname and I was utterly flabbergasted.

"Thank you?"

Potter stretched out in sun, looking for all the world like the giant cat his House carried the symbol of. "Oh, don't thank me just yet, Draco. Just because I've agreed to stand on your side does not mean I will stand **aside**. If I hear one whisper that this all was some elaborate hoax, either to turn me over to Voldemort," He ignored my shiver, "or to discredit Hermione's honor, I swear by all the magic in my soul, Voldemort's death will be **swift **and **neat** compared to yours."

With a single, liquid movement Potter was on his feet and had his wand at my throat before I even had time to breath. Baring his teeth in a grin that was more wolf than man, he hissed into my ear, "Like I said, I protect the people I care about."

Potter hadn't given up, he was just showing me that, although he was on the side of Light, he could be just as ruthless as those on the side of Dark; but, considering what he was protecting, I understood where he was coming from and I had to show him I wasn't giving in to fear this time.

"I swear, by all the magic in **my** soul," I vowed, feeling his wand growing warm at my throat and seeing his eyes grow wide in shock, "that my feelings for Hermione are true and honorable, and that if my love proves to be false or cause her harm, may I lose any and all claim I have to it and my magic, forcing me to live the rest of my days alone and as a Muggle."

The heat from Potter's wand tip was close to boiling now, but I wasn't done just yet. Potter had caught on that this wasn't some idle promise between the two of us and hadn't moved, save to turn so he now was face to face with me.

"So I also swear, to protect her from any and all harm that may come her way, personally or emotionally, if it is in my power. If it is not, may I strengthen the one who will hold her safe."

There was one last burst of searing heat, followed by a flash of blinding light that left spots dancing in front of my eyes as I heard Potter curse before the spots bled together and I knew nothing more.

--0--0--0--0--

Hermione Jane Granger shivered slightly, rubbing her arms against a sudden, chilly wind that swept through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and into the Gryffindor Tower as she was once again struck with a problem that seemed almost insolvable: Not two minutes had passed since had Harry had left her in Gryffindor Tower with a volatile and extremely bad tempered red-head when said red-head blurted out that he loved her.

Needless to say, Hermione was floored, literally. She had sank so suddenly to the ground that Ron had cried out in fear, but she ignored him as she curled up into a little ball, arms clasped around her legs, and refused to move despite Ron's various attempts to get her to unwind.

He finally got the hint that she wasn't uncurling after ten minutes of poking and prodding her stiff form. He decided to simply lift her tightly wound body up and set her into her favorite armchair in front of the fire before retreating back up to the boys' dormitory, muttering darkly to himself all the way about 'bloody purebloods' and an 'evil ferret' as well.

Hermione was then left to her thoughts, as chaotic as they were.

Ron had just admitted he loved her and she didn't know what to do. True, earlier on, she had feelings for the stumbling red-head, and people **had** always said that they fought like a married couple; but, even through all that, she held a deep crush on the one thing she couldn't have: the most forbidden of forbidden fruits; bad boy, Slytherin, Draco Malfoy.

She had always admired the way Draco carried himself, as if no one could touch him or that their words had no effect on his self esteem, for he knew exactly who he was in the world, something she was still trying to find. Yes, Draco's arrogance **had **annoyed her, as well as the fact that he seemed to always pick on her friends, she had hoped he would grow out of it and apparently he had; but never, in her dizziest daydreams, did she ever think he felt the same about her... She could still remember how it felt to be held in his arms as he confessed that he loved her...

Her rational mind, in an obvious attempt to prevent her from feeling guilty about loving who she chose, then pointed out the timing of Ron 'confession'; why had he waited until **now** to tell her, when she already admitted to loving someone else? It was too close a coincidence, making Ron's 'feelings' more of a delaying tactic than an act of admitting devotion.

At least she knew where Harry stood in all of this; Harry, who she loved like a brother, had disappeared right after she told him and Ron her little secret to have a 'talk' with Draco, a talk that was now close to half an hour in the making. A very **long** half hour that saw the end of eight of her fingernails. Merlin's staff, she prayed Harry wasn't killing him.

_**Maybe the reason it's taking so long is a good thing; at least he didn't just come straight back cursing Draco's name and vowing that you would never see him again... **_Her rational mind was once more trying to put her at ease. _**Maybe they're just settling everything all out, setting up new boundaries, and coming up with a suitable middle ground. They **__have__** hated each other for close to five years now...**_

Of course, that thought brought her back to all the Curses and Enchantments that she and Ronald helped Harry learn in preparation for the Triwizard Tournament just last year and she just hoped Harry would keep his levelheadedness when he faced off with the real Draco Malfoy. If it came down to choosing between the two of them, she wasn't sure if she could...

"Please let them be safe," she muttered, fighting off a sudden, frightening chill much like the one that had overcame her and left her shivering so badly earlier, "Let them **both** be safe and away from any kind of danger. I couldn't bare it if either one of them were hurt..."

Burrowing deep into her stuffed armchair, Hermione reminded herself that they were either on Hogwart's grounds or in the castle itself. You can't Apparate or Disapperate on the grounds and no one ever had... at least, not until last year, when they came so close to losing Harry forever.

Unable to sit still as thoughts of what could be happening to two of the most important men in her life-excluding her father, of course-Hermione rose and made her way to a window overlooking the grounds, closing her eyes as she leaned her head against the windowpane. Banishing the images playing behind her lids, Hermione whispered, "Come back, come back both of you and tell me you're safe... **Show **me that you're both safe..."

There was a complete absence of noise for the space of three heartbeats, then a sudden crash had Hermione jumping from her bowed position and spinning on her heel, screeching at the top of her lungs as **something** landed in front of her with an Earth shattering _thud_.

"Ow."

Able to slightly recognize the voice as someone who would not harm her, Hermione tried to calm her racing heart as she stepped around the rubble that was Gryffindor Tower, vaguely wondering why no one had come running at the sounds to see what was going on.

"Ow!" The voice grouched again, sounding more irritated than hurt this time. "Budge up, Potter, your knee is in my gut."

"Well, your elbow is in my eye, Draco, so you move first!"

Simply unable to fully comprehend what her ears were telling her, Hermione side stepped one last bit of broken floorboards and rubble, lettiing her eyes confirm the truth of it for themselves.

Harry and Draco, both covered head to trainers in dust and dirt, were tangled in a knot on the Gryffindor Common room floor as if they just finished an Olympic style game of Twister, bickering at each other as they tried to straighten themselves. They were so completely involved in their mini squabble, they didn't even realize Hermione was there until she was almost on top of them.

--0--0--0--0--

As I untangled myself from around Potter's legs, dazed and disoriented from the explosion that knocked me out, I looked around to try to figure out why I felt hardboard under me instead of the grass I had been standing on.

Then I saw her.

"Hey, Potter-"

"It's **Harry**, Draco, **Harry**! Enough o that 'Potter' bullocks, you make me sound like a gardener," Potter snapped, squirming his bottom half out from under me and brushing himself off, "What d'you want?"

I kept my eyes trained on the girl standing in front of me, who was gazing at us with such a myriad of emotions, I was surprised that they all fit on her face. "Where did you last see Hermione?"

"In Gryffindor Tower with Ron, right before I came to talk to you and this whole mess started," Potter replied, adjusting his glasses and finally looking up. " Why do you want to know- Oh..."

"Yeah," I quipped, watching as Hermione finally settle on the one emotion I really didn't want focused on me as her hands rested on her hips, her face twisting into a grimace as she **really** glared at us."**Oh**."

"**Where** have you two been and just **what** have you been doing? I was worried **sick**!" Hermione ground out as she gave us another once over, probably checking over for any type of wounds this time.

"Why? We've only been talking for about ten minutes," Potter interjected, far more cavalier than I when dealing with an angry Hermione as he checked his watch to make sure he was correct.

"No," Hermione refuted, pointing to a clock behind us, "You've been gone for nearly an hour, worried me half to **death, **then suddenly appeared inGryffindor Tower in a jumbled heap, looking as if you spent all the time you've been gone wrestling in a mud hole!"

As Potter-**Harry**-checked the clock time against his watch time, I performed a quick S_courify_ spell on the two of us so we looked at least halfway presentable. I may have given up on my overall snobbery and blood purity obsession, but I was **not** going to stand around in front of my girlfriend looking like a complete heathen.

I still loved the way that sounded; **Hermione **was **my** girlfriend!

"That can't be right," Po-Harry, got to remember it's **Harry** now-muttered, checking his watch, then the clock, then his watch again. "I left, maybe six minutes after three, and now it's almost five o'clock."

"It's even darker than it was a few minutes ago," I informed them, glancing out the window, my gaze sticking when I saw that the sun was halfway through setting instead of just beginning to go down. "We lost a whole lot more than twenty minutes, Harry, but how...?"

A half-smile split Hermione's face as she realized that we **had** done something besides worry her in the time we had left before the rest of my sentence registered and her face turned downward again.

"You don't remember what happened, nothing at all?" Hermione asked worriedly, her voice wobbling with an emotion I had no trouble at all identifying, having felt it many times in my life: fear. The response I made however, was something completely unexplainable.

I immediately went to stand beside her, my arms moving with no thought on my part to wrap around her shivering form and pull her against my side as I planted a soft, chaste kiss against her lips with no qualms at all about how Harry would react to my actions. As far as I was concerned, Harry could go fly up a Quidditch pole and stay there all term.

"It's alright, my Hermione," I whispered, the words coming easily, smoothly, as I rocked her in an attempt to get the shivering to stop; something I didn't even know I was capable of doing "We'll figure this out, don't worry, everything will be fine."

Harry was standing there, staring at the two of us-Hermione was completely at ease by then-and stated, "Well, I do remember something; Draco made some kind of Vow, my wand glowed this strange red-gold color, and then I passed out."

"You cursed at me, then passed out." I couldn't help it as the correction slipped past my lips.

Instead of getting all defensive like he normally would, Harry just rolled his eyes and muttered, "Whatever, Draco, is that really important now?"

The three of us simply sat in silence for a few minutes after that, my grip on Hermione's shoulder tightening every now and then, before Hermione decided to sum up what we all were thinking in five simple words.

"What do we do now?"

--0--0--0--0--

_A/N: Well, after a broken power cord, a snapped computer screen and about three rewrites, I __**finally**__ got this sucker out and ready for you guys to read! Yay, me!_

_Now that I have my back-up power cord, an alternate computer screen, and my Muse whispering in my ear, these updates will finally get back on track._

_Until next time, please read and review!_


	9. Finding a Middle Ground

**Chapter Nine: Finding a Middle Ground**

It was total silence for a few minutes before Hermione defaulted to her commonly known back-up whenever she found something that either confused her or she didn't know enough about.

"Why don't we go to the library and look this up? " she chirped, moving out from under Draco's arm and was halfway across the common room before she turned around and gives us a 'What are you waiting for? Come on!' kind of look, "There should be plenty of information we could read up on..."

I shake my head, glad some things will never change no matter how bizarre the rest of the world gets, as Draco smiled and responds with, "The library is probably already closed, pet; and speaking of which, I should probably get back to my dormitory before the other Slytherins start to wonder where I went."

Hermione shoots me a look I understand all too clearly and I shake my head in a short negation since I don't trust him that much just yet, and Hermione sighs once before turning to Draco to say good-bye.

Turning myself to give them some privacy, I notice a pair of vivid blue eyes and a mane of flaming red hair dart up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Turning to tell Draco and Hermione that I was going to bed, I realized that they weren't done saying good-bye just yet. Heaving a sigh, I decide to give them even more privacy as I make my way up the stairs.

Ron was laying on his bed, his back to me, but his curtains weren't drawn around him, so I took that as a sign that it was alright for me to perch on the edge of his bed and study him where he lay.

He was at least a foot taller than I was, you could tell even with him laying down, and much more broader than I, in both his shoulders and chest. He had that healthy, warm glow around him that made me want to wrap myself in his mere essence, all the things that made him who he was. It probably came from having a mother that cooked and cared for him for him instead of living in a cramped cupboard, surviving on scraps for most of his life...

"So, is Malfoy your new best mate now? You two seemed pretty chummy downstairs," He doesn't bother to turn around and face me, nor does he bother to keep his voice down; Seamus snorts and grumbles in his sleep two beds away, Dean echoing his actions from his own bed moments later.

Some sick part of me relishes the hurt and jealousy that are abundant in Ron's voice, but I quickly pushed it aside as I whisper heatedly, "No, Draco is not my new best mate. **You're** my best mate, you'll **always** be my best mate!"___ Because you will always mean so much more to me than Blondie downstairs..._

I push the thought away as Ron sits up to glare at me, aqua blue orbs darkening to navy as his anger increases. "You're on a first name basis now?!? What that **git**??? Merlin's beard! What is **wrong** with you, Harry? Did Malfoy put the same spell on you that he did to Hermione?!?"

My own anger overrides all else as I push Ron back and straddle him, grabbing the front of his shirt in my fists as I hiss, no longer bothering to keep my voice low, "Hermione is **not** under a spell and **I'm** sure as hell not under some bloody spell! **Yes**, Draco has been an utter git ever since First Year, and **yes**, there has been times when I wanted to Curse him all the way back to the Stone Age, but damn it Ron, he's **changed** and Hermione **loves** him, loves him and is happy! One of my friends is finally happy...."

Rage abruptly dissipates into weariness as my tirades ends and my head drops forward to fall on Ron's shoulder, too tired to care how it may look if any of the guys wake up after my outburst, too tired to be surprised when they don't even stir, too tired to even care if Ron minds I'm still sitting on him. "I've caused the both of you so much heartache, so much pain and I-I just want you both to be happy... no matter what the cost is and no matter how it happens."

He is silent for a long while and I just sit there, still on his lap with my head on his shoulder, angled so I can watch him think. He does this thing where he nibbles on his bottom lip when he's deep in thought and I find myself finding the action, well, **cute**. Ron seems so deep in thought that he probably doesn't realize that the hand he had originally put on my shoulder to shove me back before I had started yelling has begun fiddling with the ends of my hair. I decide not to tell him either, because **I **don't care.

What a picture we make; Ron, sitting with his back against the headboard, lost in thought with one hand in my hair, the other on my leg as I'm straddling him, head on his shoulder, studying his profile as my hands are now only loosely clenched in his shirt. It is a few minutes more before Ron slowly removes the hand he has entwined in my hair-I try not to miss the feeling too much-to run it over his face in a surprising echo of my earlier weariness.

"If I promise to be good, will you get off of me?" Ron asks, looking everywhere but at me. He must have realized what we look like, for his face is turning red from his neck to his ears, "You're making me feel... twitchy."

I would've felt hurt if it wasn't for the fact that his voice sounds nervous instead of disgusted... and that he said 'twitchy instead of 'uncomfortable'. So, I unclench my hands and slide off Ron's lap, which causes him to close his eyes for some reason, to sit beside him on the bed, waiting for him to speak.

"It's all just so weird, ya know?" His voice is reflective, quiet. "I'm so used to Malfoy being the evil ferret that insulted my family on a daily basis, but ever since Fourth Year he's been... almost **nice** and that just threw everything off... I don't know what to think anymore..."

"He's changed," My voice echoes Ron's: quiet and introspective, as I also regard the sudden differences brought about in Draco Malfoy's originally sneaky demeanor. "I think that being in love with Hermione made him realize just how much of an evil git he had become."

"Yeah, I noticed Hermione has a way of doing that..." Ron's voice has turned slightly wistful and, for some reason, the tone makes me tense up and a sinking feeling starts to fill my stomach.

"What d'you mean?" I asked, trying to sound offhand and not betray that I was suddenly apprehensive about what his answer might be, but probably failing miserably, giving the confused look that Ron gave me.

"I mean that Hermione has this way of bringing out the best in people... kind of like you..." He blushes at the end of his sentence, which made the sinking feeling turn into a bubble of pride that I almost immediately swelled with.

Ron then gets this twisted look on his face that takes the edge off the warm feeling I have and immediately tells me I'm really **not** going to like what he says next, but I ask anyway, "What is it?"

He kept looking at his knees, reminding me of when we had had our 'discussion' earlier and Hermione walked in on the middle of it, only this time I think he was turning redder then before, which would've been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. I was just about to ask him what was wrong when he curled up, buried his face in his knees and muttered "ItoldhermioneIlovedher."

Having his face in his knees made it hard for me to understand him, but I had a sneaking suspicion on what he just said and I didn't like it one bit; but, like a normal, thickheaded male(as Hermione and Ginny love to point out), I hesitantly asked, "What d'you say?"

Ron slowly lifted his head, eyes still downcast as he mumbled, "I **said**,I told Hermione that I loved her."

The good feelings I had immediately disappear with those words, and are replaced instead with a sudden sense of foreboding that twists my gut and makes me slightly ill. Swallowing down the fountain of bile threatening to flow out of my stomach, I ask the question I really don't want the answer to, but need to know so I can get a handle on my own feelings. "Do you really?"

Ron took a look at me out of the corner of his eyes, as if trying to decide to tell me something or not, then he quickly turned away; causing my skin to crawl and my unease to go up a few more notches before he opened his mouth and sighed, "I don't know... Hearing her say that she loved Malfoy made me mad, so I guess I wanted to hurt her by saying that I loved her."

"Why?" I asked, the ill feelings gone and I was once more filled with an easy comradely toward Ron, as well as a wild, fervent and almost painful hope that the next thing he would say would give me just a little bit of the happiness I wanted so badly for my friends...

"Because I knew she would fret about it, she fret about **everything**," Ron laughed softly for a while, before suddenly growing serious again, "I'd apologize to her, but I don't want to run into **him **again. Seeing the three of you being all chummy was bad enough, but-"

He seemed to suddenly realize what he was saying, for Ron turned a lovely shade of garnet and brought to the forefront of my mind a question I had been meaning to ask him ever since I left the common room, but had been distracted by a couple of other things, namely him yelling at me.

"Well," I asked, staring him in the eye so he couldn't lie to me, his eyes do this little twitchy thing when he lies. "if it wasn't Hermione liking Draco that was making you so mad at me, what was...?"

Ron grinned half-heartedly at me, one hand reaching up to drag awkwardly through his ember hair. "I'll never get used to hearing you call Malfoy that... It's too bloody bizarre..."

That was a clear 'I don't want to talk about it' coming from the normally astoundingly obtuse Weasley, but I decided to push my luck this time and state firmly, "You're avoiding the question, Ron."

He gave me another of those penetrating sideways glances before looking away again and sighing. He did that about three more times, which was starting to fray my already thinly stretched nerves and irritate the bloody hell out of me, then he swallowed noisily and opened his mouth to speak

Karma, however, decided to go and give me a swift kick in the balls; for, right as Ron was about to tell me why he had been so jealous of Draco, and maybe even give me some joy in my hectic, pain filled life, Neville decided to trip his way into the boys' dormitory, red-faced and panting.

"What are you doing up?" The synchronization of our question made the three of grin at each other before Neville noticed something about Ron's and mine position, namely the fact that I was in his bed.

As per usual, Ron freaked out and made a big deal out of us sitting side by side on his bed, which only made Neville more nervous, thinking he had interrupt something private(I wish!), and made it impossible for me to get an answer to my question. As soon as Neville stopped staring at us like we were an exhibit in a zoo, Ron rolled over to his side, pulled his covers out from under my butt, and covered himself up from head to toe, ending all attempts at conversation.

Sighing, I got up and made my way to my bed, Neville's apologies following me all the way. Considering that he **did** interrupt an important conversation between me and Ron, **and** his arrival cut Ron off in the middle of what might have been a confession of some attraction to me, my response was a little harsher than I would've been under normal circumstances.

"**Enough**, Neville; you didn't interrupt anything, Ron and I were just... talking and, frankly, your constant repetitive apologies are starting to get on my nerves. I get it, you're sorry, you didn't mean it, it was an accident. You had n idea anyone was even going to be up, let it go!"

I immediately regretted blowing up like that, but looking over at Neville made everything worse, he looked like I just socked him after my little outburst, which made me feel even crummier about yelling at him.

"Merlin, Neville, I'm sorry. It was just that I had a kind-of fight with Ron; we were trying to talk it out and he was just about t tell me something important, and a little private when you walked in. I was irritated that I didn't get to hear what he wanted to say and your apologies just blew mo over the top. Now, **I'm** sorry, mate; I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Truce, Nev?"

The smaller boy smiled hesitantly and nodded once before leaving to the restroom to change into his pajamas and get into bed himself. I sighed as I mimicked his movements only minutes behind him, not sure if I should be grateful or annoyed that at least one of my friends forgave way too easily.

It wasn't until we were both in our prospective beds and I had almost drifted to sleep that I suddenly realized something. Turning over, I saw that Neville was still awake, staring up at the ceiling with a small smile on his face.

"So, why **were** you up so late?"

He immediately flushed bright pink and twisted to stare at me in abject horror, which made the corners of my mouth hitch up into a grin. Neville, embarrassed? This was going to be interesting...

"I-I was just hanging out in the Astronomy Tower," Neville stammered, face growing redder as he tries miserably to sound convincing, "I d-didn't know how late it had been until I c-came back..."

"Mmmhmm," I mumble, grin growing as Neville unknowingly gave me more information to tease him with, "What had you distracted you didn't notice the time, I wonder? Can't have been the stars; you see one, you've seen them all..."

Wow, I have never seen someone turn that red before; true, he was already blushing to begin with, but now his face could give **Ron** a run for his money whenever he got flustered.

"I h-had Astrology homework that was due!" Neville blurted, rubbing at the side of his nose and, if that wasn't a clear sign that he was bluffing, the way everything else in the room suddenly seemed much more interesting to look at then me was.

"You're a lousy liar, Neville," I laughed, more intrigued then ever now that Neville had resorted to lying to me. What was so important he tried to keep it from me? Should I just back off? I know how I'd feel if someone was bugging me about something I wanted to keep secret... "If you don't want to say anything, just tell me to bugger off-"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Neville interrupted, gazing at me imploringly as he sat up and turned my direction, "Promise you won't laugh at me, either... I've had enough of that today..."

"Want me to swear on my magic? I hear that's a pretty strong vow..." I asked, hoping that Neville would know something about the mystery surrounding Hermione, Draco and me.

Sure enough, Neville's eyes widen and he starts shaking his head so violently I'm worried he might rattle his brains loose. "No, no, no, nothing that big! I just want your word, Harry, that this stays between the two of us... at least, until I decide to tell everyone else.

"I swear, you have my word, Neville," I promise, hand over my heart, not really surprised when I feel the skin warm under my shirt. That had been happening to me a lot lately, it wasn't really noticeable now. "Why don't you want to tell anyone what happened in the Astrology Tower?"

"**Nothing** happened!" Neville insisted, a bit of color flaring up in his cheek once more, "At least, nothing like what you are insinuating, Harry. Merlin, you've got a dirty mind..."

"Moi?" I ask, pointing myself, a wide grin stretching across my face as I realize that Neville had just made a **joke** at my expense, "**I** just asked what happened, **you're** the one that made it into something perverted..."

Boy, was it easy to make Neville embarrassed! We might have to work on that... As he once more tried to stammer out a rebuttal, I waved his protestations away. "Kidding, Neville, kidding. Besides, we're getting off topic, why don't you just **tell** me what was going on in the Astronomy Tower and we go from there?"

Nodding, Neville visibly tried to find a way to start this conversation off; he sat there, chewing his lower lip and twiddling his thumbs together before just plowing onward with a "Luna kissed me in the Astronomy Tower."

Things just got a whole lot more interesting.

_A/N: Well, there you are, chapter nine is up and running. I'm sorry for the delays, but real life has a nasty habit of getting in the way. Also.._

_LUVUALL, IF YOU KEEP GIVING AWAY MY STORY, I WILL STOP WRITING _EVERYTHING_!!!_

_Please read and review. Have a nice day!_


	10. The Luna Lesson

**Chapter Ten: The Luna Lesson**

Luna Lovegood believed in many things, most of them were nearly everything that many other people thought were impossible, or a grand joke, even going as far as to laugh in her face and call her 'Loony' Lovegood for it... and that was one of the politer names they came up with. Their creativeness would be almost admirable if it wasn't so hurtful to hear...

Yet, it didn't really bother Luna all that much; after all, most Muggles didn't believe in dragons, werewolves or hinkypunks, and she **had** seen the last two; not to mention there were all different kinds of dragons guarding vaults in Gringotts and Fudge's Manor to make sure the goblins didn't retaliate after the Minister poisoned most of them.

The only time Luna was ever affected by the actions of her peers was when they resorted to outright violence and/or stealing her things, particularly every single pair of her shoes. Hogwarts was made of stone, after all, and stone did get very cold in the evenings when she was sleepwalking and the chill could give her a cold that would make the Ginbly Vizpers jealous.

That was why, when Neville Longbottom had run into her so suddenly in the corridor outside the Astrology Tower that evening, her first reaction was that the population of Hogwarts had taken their teasing of her into outright bullying again and her response came before she even had time to see who it was.

"If you are going to hurt me, would you please be so kind as to avoid my eyes?" Luna thought the shocked look on Neville's face was out of place on someone who was about to commit an act of violence, despite the fact that it confused her that he picked her as his first target for said act, "I would like to still be able to see in case my father finds a Crumple Horned Snorkack."

Neville's jaw snapped close with an audible click and Luna was about to tell him that he better be careful in case a Snargle Zimpuff visited him later that night (they can be a bit obsessive concerning damaged teeth and proper dental care) when he hissed at her, "I am **not **going to hurt you, Luna Lovegood! Bloody hell, whatever gave you that horrid idea?!?"

This caused the blonde Ravenclaw to blink a few times; one, because she wasn't used to dealing with people who wanted to be **nice** to her, and two, because it was the first time she had ever heard Neville curse. It was as rare as finding someone who had actually **believed** in Crumple Horned Snorkacks, much less **seen** one.

"Then why did you ram into me?" Luna asked, more curious now that she wasn't resigned to another beating as she straightened her shirt to a more presentable shape than the ruffled mess due to their collision.

Neville''s face flushed at the reminder that he had been so absorbed in getting the bloody blazes out of dodge and away from the potential bloodshed that he ran right into a **girl**. _Really chivalrous, Neville... _"I needed to get away from Malfoy and Harry before they started throwing curses."

"Oh, did a Whongly Zangeret get them?"

"A... what...?" Neville asked, not sure exactly if he should find out what Luna was talking about or turn around and take his chances with Harry and Malfoy. After a few seconds thought, Neville decided to choose the lesser of two evils.

Unable to tell the difference between a general curiosity about what she was talking about and being completely flabbergasted, Luna went on to explain, "A Whongly Zangeret is an invisible demon that feeds off of negative energy, making the people around him hostile and mean. The longer people are around them, the nastier the people are... I think Professor Snape has one as a pet..."

Due to the fact that Neville actually **understood** what Luna told him, it took him a few seconds to realize that she had added a joke to her explanation as well, so that when it finally registered, his laugh was a little bit forced and it sounded more like a slightly gurgled choke.

Luna didn't mind much though, Neville had always intrigued her; he seemed to want to treat everyone equally, but he followed the assumed basis that all the Slytherins in Hogwarts were evil, he was extremely quiet, polite and self contained, but could be very forward and driven during the DA meetings, surprising everyone with the fury behind his attacks. It was almost as interesting as the various mythical creatures that continued to elude her.

"Hey, Luna?" Neville's voice had taken on that uncertain tremor that came whenever he wasn't sure of the answer or whenever he talked to Harry lately. Actually, it was there whenever **anybody **ever talked to Harry lately... "You've been staring at me for a while now... Is there something on my face?"

"Yes, there is, Neville."

"What?"

"Your nose, Neville."

Ah, there was that bewildered look she loved so much... Neville managed to make it look cute as well as flabbergasted, making Luna bite her lip to keep a rare giggle from escaping.

Shaking his head-no doubt at her 'oddness'-Neville made to pass her as he explained, "Well, I need to get going, to tell Hermione and Ron that Harry might end up in the Hospital Wing again... either that or Malfoy will and they better take cover 'cause you know he'll probably sic Daddy Dearest on them for daring to harm his 'precious little son'..."

Seeing Neville leave sadden Luna for some reason, so she cut off his rambling by shooting out her hand to grasp Neville's wrist as he walked past her, smiling and asking, "Have you finished your Astrology homework, yet? I think I might still need to work on mine a little..."

"Wha-what?" Neville stuttered, his attention momentarily diverted by the sudden heat that shot up his arm, originating from where Luna touched him. When had her hands become so warm...? Why had he not noticed that before, as well as how focused her eye got when she looked at you...?

"Your Astrology homework, Neville" Luna repeated evenly, a warmth growing in her stomach when Neville didn't pull away from her like she carried a disease, as many of her peers seemed inclined to do. "It's a clear night out tonight, perfect for seeing the stars move..."

"Okay..." Neville's voice trailed off as Luna pulled them toward the nearest Astronomy Tower, lightly tugging his arm along the way. Due to the lateness of the hour, the pair were a little surprised to see Pansy Parkinson at the end of the corridor that Neville had been running up just a few minutes before.

Pansy gave their clasped hands a sneer that would've done Malfoy Senior proud and it had Neville pulling Luna closer to him, but Luna's reaction to the girl actually surprised both Neville and Pansy both: Luna **smiled** at the Slytherin and asked, "How has Draco been, Pansy?"

The speed in which Pansy's face had drained of all its color had Neville worried for elder student until she suddenly flushed red and snapped at Luna. "None of your business, you dirty Muggle lover!! You're just lucky I've got more important things on my mind than dealing with the two of you!"

Neville only had a brief view of a single tear flowing down Pansy Parkinson's face before the normally cool headed-some might even say empty headed-female pushed past the two and ran toward the Slytherin dormitories, sniffing as she went. Neville was utterly floored by what happened and was about to ask Luna what that was all about when she once again answered his question before it was even asked.

"So she does know, then, poor girl..." Luna mused as she tugged on Neville's arm to get him moving again, "I suppose my question was extremely hurtful to her, so I will have to apologize to later on... She didn't deserve to have it rubbed in her face like that, Slytherin or not. Do you think if I give her an amulet against Whongly Zangerets, she'll forgive me?"

"Why did Pansy react like that?" Neville asked, not really wanted to tell Luna that all the amulets in the world wouldn't change how the stuck up Slytherin felt about the unique Ravenclaw, especially when she was trying to be nice to said stuck up Slytherin. "What does she know?"

"That Hermione and Draco are in love and I think that they have started dating as well." Luna looked down at Neville's sprawled form and smiled at the Gryffindor boy. "You seemed as surprised as Pansy was, Neville, did no one tell you about them or did you trip on a Feblalump?

"Nobody tells me anything!! **Especially** the important stuff!!!" Neville huffed, getting back to his feet with Luna's hand up, blushing a little at being so easily caught off guard. _So __**that's**__ why Malfoy and Harry were so tense earlier this afternoon!! I mean, they're __**always**__ tense around each other, it's like a thing with them, but this time they looked like one wrong word and __**BAM**__!!_

_ "_I tell you things, Neville, but nobody really listens to what I have to say, so I'm not surprised you didn't notice." That simple sentence cooled Neville's anger as suddenly as if he had been thrown int o the Great Lake in the middle of winter time, but his apology was once again cut off by Luna as she let out a soft exclamation of delight as they made it to the top of the Astrology Tower, "Look, Neville! The stars are dancing... Aren't they beautiful?"

Neville, however, was too busy paying attention to the stars dancing in Luna's eyes as she gazed up at the heavens with her trademark dreamy expression dominating her features. How could beauty be so close to him, yet he'd be blind to it? True, Luna had an oddness about her, but that was made her so special; she was quite literally one of a kind and Neville Longbottom was just beginning to see that. It sadden him that he hadn't seen it sooner...

"Yes, Luna," Neville whispered, his voice filled with awe as he watched Luna's silvery gray eyes turned from the sky above them to gaze right at him, almost gazing **through** him, the glow from the constellations above lighting her blonde hair and giving Neville the impression that she belonged up among the stars as one of them. "Yes, they **are** beautiful..."

Luna gazed at Neville, her eyes wide and unblinking, but he didn't find it as weird as other people might; it was just something that made Luna her unique self and he enjoyed looking into her eyes, watching the way they sparkled as she slowly moved toward him. Nonetheless, it still slightly surprised Neville a little when Luna suddenly closed the distance between the two of them to place a swift, yet longing, chaste kiss against his lips.

"What was that for?" Neville asked quizzically, his mouth turning upward into a smile despite the attempts to keep it straight. The last thing he wanted was for Luna to think he was l**aughing** at her, but he was really having a hard time keeping his joy inside. _Luna Lovegood kissed me!!_

He needn't have worried, for Luna had the same problem keeping her lips under control as well, either that or she just wasn't trying as her face split into a wide grin worth of a Cheshire cat as soon as she pulled away. "**That** was for just being Neville..." She brushed their lips together again, this time getting more of a response from her companion, "and **that** for watching the stars dance with me."

Neville decided to just let the grin fighting to get free loose at those words and the kisses that followed them. Well, if that was the reward for stargazing with Luna Lovegood, he was going to have do it much more often! "Glad to have helped, Luna, glad to have helped."

Her smile never leaving her face, Luna turned her gaze back to the darkening sky to watch the rest of the stars show their faces, happy that she found someone who didn't mind sharing a first kiss with someone that many people descried as 'totally barmy'.

Neville moved to stand beside the Ravenclaw, one hand lightly sliding around her waist, giving her plenty of room to move if she wanted to. When she didn't Neville tugged her lightly against his side, smile almost splitting his face when Luna rested her head against his shoulder with a contented sigh that Neville felt reverberated throughout his entire body.

"I guess we weren't the only ones that had the idea to say goodnight under the stars, were we...?"

Jumping and pulling Luna behind him instead of pushing her away, Neville pulled out his wand and pointed it in the direction of the voice that had interrupted his moment with Luna...

...only to find Draco Malfoy standing there with his trademark smirk-smile on his face. What surprised Neville was the protective grip Malfoy had on Hermione's hip, much like the one Neville had on Luna.

"Hello, Draco, Hermione," Luna quipped, breaking the staring match between Neville and Draco as she nodded at Hermione, then Draco. "What are you doing up here? Hermione can't have any Astrology homework left over to do, she'd be a Smarf Lurgler if she did..."

Both Hermione and Malfoy's gazes turned to Neville in a silent question, but he just shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea what Luna was talking about, but probably would sooner or later, considering he planned on spending more time with the girl than he usually did.

Luna didn't seem like she wanted to explain anymore, so Neville took the look on the pair's faces as their cue to leave. "Why don't we leave Malfoy and Hermione up here and continue our discussion later, huh?"

Smiling slightly, Luna led the way past the still confused pair and back down the Astrology Tower, muttering a 'Goodnight' as they went. Neither her nor Neville said anything all the way back to back to the Ravenclaw dormitories, just enjoying the others company as they walked.

The raven head asking Luna the password into the Ravenclaws' Tower was a slight shock, but Luna turning and giving him another kiss before remarking, "We didn't do much Astrology homework up there, did we?" was even more of a surprise than a statue suddenly speaking. A nice surprise that had him taken aback for a few seconds, but a surprise nonetheless.

Neville's own wide grin returned as he replied, "No, we didn't... We should go up there tomorrow night to get that work done before class on Wednesday. say around eight o'clock? Where we met last time?"

Neville's forwardness would've come as a shock to the people who claimed to be his closest friends, but after the events of the last year, he had decided to stop keeping his feelings to himself. Cedric's death had really opened to his eyes to how fragile life was and Neville wasn't wasting his anymore...

Luna, on the other hand, decided to just give him a small smile as she simply said, "Goodnight, Neville. I'll see you tomorrow in Herbology." before disappearing into her common room.

Neville could only shake his head at the blonde as she disappeared from his sight before he turned and made his way to his own dormitories. It was later than he thought and he had to dodge Filch and Mrs. Norris, but he managed to make it to Gryffindor Tower without being detected.

The Common Room was also empty, but Neville was grateful of the reprieve from questioning peers and could feel his face warming at the thought of all the teasing he was undoubtedly going to get as soon as they found out how late he was out, not to mention **who **he was out with.

Sitting in front of the gently flickering fireplace, Neville just a took minutes to himself to reflect on everything that had happened that day and everything he had found out: Hermione and Malfoy-Neville supposed he would have to start calling him Draco now-were dating now, Neville realized that his feelings for Luna had evolved beyond friendship and it seemed that if Harry was going to suppress his need to kill Draco now that his friend was dating the boy...

Feeling very tired, Neville pulled his weary body up and made his way up to the dormitory he shared with the other fourth year Gryffindor boys, eager to sleep and let his overworked brain rest. Instead, he was presented with one more thing to comprehend: Harry and Ron being caught in a very compromising position.

He immediately felt his face heating up as Ron burrowed himself under the covers on his bed as Harry sighed and returned to his own bed. Feeling like an utter heel and knowing he probably interrupted something important, Neville attempted to try to apologize while both boys changed into their pajamas, leading to Harry to snapping at him to stop babbling so much.

What followed afterward still shocked Neville; Harry apologized for snapping at him and, after some ribbing from both boys, Neville ended up spilling his guts about what had happened, including meeting Draco and Hermione at the Astrology Tower.

Now, Neville lay in his bed, staring up at the canopy over his bed and wondering what tomorrow would bring. Harry had been happy that Neville had admitted his feelings for Luna and had told him to ignore what anyone else would say. Neville was inclined to agree with him, but would he still be able to when the harsh light of day broke through that window...?

Sighing, Neville turned onto his side and closed his eyes, deciding he would deal with whatever came his way tomorrow. Tonight, he would indulge in his dreams and let them pull him through the next day.

* * *

_A/N: I'm not sure if I wrote Luna... Luna-y enough... Tell me what you think, but PLEASE don't grump at me for it!!_


	11. A Strange Breakfast

**Chapter Eleven: A Strange Breakfast, or Freaking Out the Great Hall**

Harry wasn't really sure what to expect when he went down to the Great Hall for breakfast that morning: After one of the only dreams he had that did not involve a certain corridor-but was slowly torturing him just as much as his other dream was, if not more-and then teasing Neville(after the rest of the guys left and Ron was in the shower) about inviting Luna to eat at the Gryffindor table, Harry cautiously made his way down the Gryffindor Tower, Ron chattering away in his ear about the upcoming Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch tournament... One of the many reasons he loved the redheaded boy; the clear and utter focus on a single subject, no matter what else was going on.

Ron's constant chatter only partially distracted him from the fact that many of the students they passed gave him the evil eye or even made ancient gestures against evil as he passed them. As a matter of fact, Ron's voice got even louder as they passed these people, almost as if he could get Harry to ignore them by sheer force of will. It was a nice effort but it just pointed out **when** they where doing it and brought up how **often** it happened to Harry's attention

As soon as they entered the Great Hall, Harry's gaze immediately went to the Slytherin table to see if Malfoy was serious about his late night confession and that it wasn't some sort of prank on Hermione(although, based on Neville's reaction to when he had teasingly offered the same Vow that Malfoy had, Harry had to admit that Malfoy may have been sincere)... Refocusing his attention, Harry found who he was looking for and when he realized just **what** he was looking at, his mouth dropping open in shock. As soon as Ron realized that Harry was not walking beside him-which was only halfway to the Gryffindor Table-Ron gaze darted back to him, and then over to see what he was looking at. Eyes widening as his brain processed that what he was seeing wasn't some sort of spell or enchantment, Ron's jaw joined Harry's on the floor as he uttered a very audible, "Bloody hell!"

Draco Malfoy was sitting at the Slytherin Table like a king holding court, which was how he sat at every meal, usually to gloat about something his father or mother sent him; but this morning some of his 'subjects' were looking at him like he had lost his mind. Harry was inclined to agree with the Slytherins for the first time in his life for a very simple reason; sitting next to Malfoy were, not only Hermione, but Luna Lovegood telling Neville Longbottom about some sort of unheard of magical creature if the perplexed, but interested look on his face was anything to go by, Ginny Weasely who looked like she was trying to disappear under the table, and the Weasely twins, who were either looking like they wondering about their own sanity or making sure that the Slytherins sitting next to Ginny kept their hands to themselves.

"Malfoy's finally done it... he's totally lost his marbles... He's gone completely barking..." Ron's voice held what sounded like, well, **amazement** as he and Harry watched Malfoy lean over and pour Hermione a glass of pumpkin juice as if it were a regular occurrence and not something that had the entire Great Hall watching in wonder, speculating what he had put in the goblet that had her sitting there or what he had done to get the lot of them over there in the first place. "If Pansy doesn't kill him, **Snape** is going to **murder** him!"

Harry took in the fact that Pansy(who was, as far as anyone knew, still Malfoy's girlfriend)had been glaring at Malfoy like he had just insulted her entire family tree and personal hygiene in one breath before he dared to look up at the High Table, letting his gaze sweep over the other teachers before landing on Snape: Professor Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling so much, Harry suspected that someone had switched them for a pair of sapphire jewels(at least for the few seconds he saw them), Hagrid looked completely flummoxed to see the Weaselys at the Slytherin Table without there being bloodshed and looked like he hoped this was some kind of wonderful practical joke, Professor McGongall's lips were the thinnest Harry had ever seen-not to mention it looked like her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline-and all of the other professor's expressions were some variation of Hagrid's and Professor McGongall's.

Except for Umbridge, sitting in the seat that many people believed(and Harry was **really** being to hope for in this particular case) was cursed; as usual, the frog-like teacher was simply eating her breakfast and staring out at the Great Hall as if she was at a picnic with a bunch of five year old children and she was a much loved kindergarten teacher. It amazed Harry that she seemed to completely missing the fact that most of the population was glaring back at her with thinly veiled disgust or, with a few brave exceptions, open loathing. No, wait, scratch that; anyone that covered up Cedric's death as an 'unfortunate accident' was more obtuse than Professor Binn in lecture mode.

Then Harry's gaze slowly, finally, went to where Professor Snape was sitting and he had to swallow down a cry of warning for Mal-**Draco**, _**damn, that's going to take some time to get used to**_-because Snape had that special look on that he originally reserved just for Harry; it was a very talented combination of a glare, sneer and frown that Harry believed Snape had to take a special class to perfect and never would have thought he'd see it aimed at another student... To be precise, as soon as the Potion Master realized Harry had entered the Great Hall, Snape's gaze snapped to The-Boy-Who-Lived and grew ever more darker... something that Harry had not even thought possible until that moment, something that had him worried for Draco's well being for the very first time since he met the boy.

It seemed to be a morning for firsts...

"Harry! Ron! There you are! Come over here!" As if shocking the Great Hall with letting people who were **not** Slytherins sit with him, even talking and laughing with those people, Draco decided to go the extra mile by calling Harry and Ron by their surnames. It was such a surprise that even **they** didn't recognize who was calling them and Draco had to repeat himself a few times, making several people look st their oatmeal as if they strongly suspected that the House-elves put more than the usual herbs and spices in it.

"Alright, Malfoy, time to get to whatever you wanted to say," Fred Weasely stated, glaring as one particularly stalwart Slytherin-Blaine or Cain, or something like that-tried to strike up a conversation with Ginny once again. The boy was pretty determined and could actually stand up to Fred's glaring for quite a bit, but having a one-sided conversation with a girl whose speechless with embarrassment is a feat in itself and not even the most determined Slytherin was able to do it for very long.

"Tsk, tsk, Weasely, you'd think I was up to no good," Draco chided, grinning at Fred and shocking him into silence with the simple action. For Draco had smirked before, sneered like it was his personal trademark, but never had before had the platinum blond Slytherin smiled at any of them-well, other than Hermione, of course-with any kind of warmth in his gaze. It derailed the Gryffindor Beater so much that Blaine(or whatever his name happened to be) was actually able to nudge Ginny out of her embarrassment and have a few words with the girl before George stepped in for his twin and sent the boy packing.

"We **know** you're up to no good, Malfoy," Fred growled darkly, the only sign of his embarrassment that he had been surprised by Malfoy's good nature ribbing was a slight redness about his ears, a Weasely temper sign that Harry was beginning to think he'd see a lot in the coming days if Draco was as serious about dating Hermione as he said he was. "So why don't you just get to the point so that we can tell you to piss off once and for all?"

Once more, Draco tutted at Fred and quipped, "Such rude behavior! Here I am, inviting you special few to dine with me and have a civilized conversation, yet most of you are treating me as if I were going to Curse you all! Now, is that really fair?"

"Stop teasing them, Draco, and tell them what you wanted to say," Hermione cut across Fred-who had gone red again, this time it covered his entire face-seeming to be the only one that wasn't thrown off by all of this; as a matter of fact, the brain of what people were beginning to call 'the Golden Trio' was beaming so brightly that the sunlight streaming through the window was having a hard time competing with her on lighting up the place. To coin a popular phrase, Harry's 'sister' was practically glowing.

"Very well, Hermione, I'll get right to the point." Draco sighed dramatically as Hermione nudged him good naturally, shocking the other occupants of the table from one end to the other even further by not only agreeing to Hermione's request-or rather, her demand-but by calling her by her surname as if he had done it ever since the two of them had met. It was enough of a breach of the norm for the other Slytherins to stop doing that 'I'm-listening-but-am-pretending-to-be-interested-in-the-bacon' thing they all usually did and openly stare at Draco in shock, which seemed to only buoy the blond's unnatural good mood even farther.

"I've called you all here-with some very careful persuasion on some of your parts-to inform you all that any ill blood between us... I hope to wash it away and begin anew with all of you. As of now, I am going to do everything in my power to prove that I have turned over a new leaf, become a new man and have left the old 'Draco Malfoy' behind me," Waiting a few minutes for the cacophonous clamor that followed that statement to quiet down, Malfoy took a sip of his pumpkin juice before continuing, "That is not saying that my father and other members of my family will feel as kindly toward all of you... most of all you, Harry, my father really can't stand you... Can't really understand why..."-there was an almost normally evil looking grin on Draco's face now-"I believe they will feel unkindly toward the lot of you even **more** so when they hear of my break from the Malfoy's bad name, starting by openly dating one Miss Hermione Granger... if there is anything left of me after I accept all of the retribution for the damage to the people gathered here that I caused, either directly or indirectly."

There was utter silence at the Slytherin Table that seemed to spread to the farthest corners of Great Hall; it was as if the entire Hogwart's population was holding its breath, waiting for the first blow to land, first spell to be cast or something. Harry found himself wondering where Draco had learned to talk like that as he subtly removed all the sharp objects from the Weasely twins' side of the Slytherin Table with a simple Summoning charm, grinning widely when a few of them collided with the ones flying toward Hermione, who had the foresight to remove them from the more violent Slytherins that where now looking at Draco as if they wanted nothing more than to take him up on his offer of retribution.

After a few heartbeats, George Weasely, who had been utterly silent up to this point, asked, "Are you on some sort of personality altering drug? Potion?" His gaze swept over the other Gryffindors at the table and lingered for a moment on Luna before dismissing her as impossible for whatever he was thinking of. "Did one of you guys slip him something while we weren't looking, to see if we would fall for it? A Malfoy turning over a new leaf? That's pretty good... almost had me believing it for a couple of seconds before I remembered who I was talking to. So, what did you guys do to get to the ferret to go along with it? A bribe, possibly? Blackmail, maybe?"

The fact that the last part had an almost wistful note to it was not lost on Draco, nor did he miss the backhanded nickname, but it did not garner the explosion that George was obviously expecting. If anything, it lit a determined glint in Draco's eyes as he accepted the suspicion and distrust with a small, short, bow of his head. "Very well, you do not believe me. You don't really have any reason to accept my word at face value, as I have never really given you just cause to do so, therefore I will render this compromise: Will you believe that I have well and truly changed my ways if I promise, in front of all gathered and on my magic, to do one thing that you say, no questions asked, no matter how humiliating?"

"Okay, I was just kidding last time, but this time I'm dead serious: _**Malfoy has**__**lost his mind**_," Ron hissed as the twins shared a look that was all too familiar to Harry: they couldn't believe the golden treasure that dropped ever so willingly into their lap. It was the look they got when Ginny first told them about Percy having a girlfriend, when they found out that Sirius Black was one of the Marauders, then whenever a First Year agreed to be one of their guinea pigs. It wasn't very good for the nerves and Hermione once described it as having a 'wonderfully awful' quality to it. Ron agreed once Harry explained the reference, even going as far to add that there were days when he strongly suspected the fact that they weren't power hungry arses was all that kept them from being in Slytherin.

"Anything we want, huh?" The Weasely twins chorused, interrupting the quiet mini-argument that was going on between the newly announced couple, and bringing Draco's attention back to them, Something of what they were planning must have been reflected there, because Harry saw Draco's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, which only caused the two sitting across from him grin even wider. "Do you want to make the Vow before-

"-or after we tell you what we want you to do-

"-to make it square between us? We can't-"

"-say the same for our brother and sister, however-"

"-considering that you've been more of an evil berk to them than to us-"

"-but we do have a few ideas if they can't think of anything-"

"-especially thought up-"

"-given careful consideration-"

"-even almost put into action-"

"-all for the little ex-Death Eater."

"George!"

"Public nudity might work for the ponce-"

"-but Hermione would like that too much-"

"Fred!"

"-so we were thinking something a little more **personal**..."

"Maybe an indentured servitude-"

"-Malfoy admitting his blood is no better than anyone else's-"

"-or something like that?"

"I reserve the right to fully and utterly beat the blue blood he believes he has out of him if he hurts Hermione," Ron stated, interrupting one of Hermione's lectures and making the other Weaselys near him jump in surprise. They had obviously forgotten he was sitting at the table with them, even Neville had twitched a little at Ron's first words (Luna, of course, simply blinked while smiling that slightly mad smile of hers). Ron's gaze flickered over to the boy that had been trying to chat up Ginny earlier as he continued, "Hermione is like a sister to me and Harry, has been since First Year and the deal with the troll, and we take care of our family and anyone who tries to harm them, no matter **who** they are or **what** family they come from."

Whatever-his-name-was and Ron locked eyes for the barest of seconds and the ebony haired Slytherin's head dipped forward in what could be called a nod if one was feeling gracious, but Ron turned in his seat and sent the same glare at Draco, who also gave the slightest of nods. He then leaned back in his seat, glad that the message had been sent and completely oblivious to the fact that his thigh kept rubbing against Harry's leg and it was slowly driving him crazy...

_**Is he so focused on other people's romances that he has no time figuring out his own problems? **_Harry sighed and was about to bring up the fact that Ginny had yet to say anything when the girl cut him off by actually speaking up, taking her turn locking eyes with Draco as she gave her own condition for forgiving him:.

"I want to take Veritiserum for my questions, and I want a Truth Spell cast afterward, with just me and Malfoy in the room," Ginny raised her voice to be heard over her brothers, her brown orbs never leaving Draco's icy blues as she went on in a tone like sharpened steel, "The questions I want to ask have to deal with something everyone here was happy forgetting even happened, including me. I would prefer to bring up as few bad memories as I can; if it were possible, I wouldn't bring them up at all, but there are some things I **need** to know..."

There was nothing any of them could say after that, and Draco agreed to swear on his magic before the Weasely twins even told him what they wanted. All that was left was to figure out where all of this was going to take place and the group sat around discussing it for a while before the absurdity of their situation decided to make itself known in one of the most unpleasant of ways: Professor Delores Umbridge, teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"_Hem, hem_," Could you hate the sound of someone clearing their throat? Or was it the fact that Umbridge did it like an overbearing grandmother? Or maybe it was that she treated them all like mentally retarded toddlers? "I do believe that the bell for classes rang some time ago, maybe you didn't hear it over your no doubt entertaining chatter. May I inquire as to what the lot of you are discussing? It is rare that I see the Houses as mixed as this, and the teachers have told me they have never witnessed this during their many years teaching as well... It seems Cornelius was right in turning the Ministry's loving gaze toward Hogwarts..."

Confused, Harry lifted his gaze and looked down the Slytherin Table, trying to figure out how a bunch of Gryffindors and Slytherins were 'the Houses'. Slightly shocked, Harry saw that Umbridge was **right**(for once); as they had been talking amonst themselves and not really paying that much attention to anything else, several different students had wandered over and had started talking with various Slytherins, Hufflepuffs and so forth. True, some parts of the table were completely ignoring the other, but for the most part, nearly every one was talking with someone from another House and it wouldn't have surprised Harry if some sort of magic had lengthened the Slytherin Table to accommodate all of the student now seated at it.

Blinking beside him, Ron once more muttered, "Bloody hell, everybody's here!" while Harry took in the sight that down the table Alicia Spinnet was arguing Quidditch tactics with Cho Chang, Colin Creevey was talking photos with Justin Flinch-Fletchley, Luna was trying to convince Hannah Abbott that she needed a charm to ward off the creature that was making her voice so high and Hermione's eyes were shining like twin shooting stars when she mouthed, "Inter-house co-operation! **WE** did it, Harry!" at him as she grasped Draco's hand in time for him to place a gentle kiss on the back of hers.

"_Hem, hem_," Unfortunately, Harry did not have time to marvel at the crowd of students that were milling about, even through they were now heading off to the first class of the day, because Umbridge was once more demanding his attention with a sickly sweet smile, "Mr. Potter, if you would be so kind as to answer me? It is considered extremely rude to totally ignore someone when they ask you a question, and it is considered even more, if not especially, rude when a teacher asks you a direct question and you do not answer it. I answer all of the questions posed to me to the best of my ability, don't I?"

"Yeah, but that the difference between the two of us, Umbridge," Harry snapped harshly, utterly annoyed that one of his very **few** peaceful mornings was being ruined with a completely pointless lecture by someone who sprouted more lies than Fudge did, totally irritated by the fact that she was using the fact that the Houses were getting along for the first time in a long while as a basis for the Ministry's new regiment at Hogwarts to be working, not to mention her own all consuming banning of everything that pointed out the slightest hint of the Ministry being wrong, and just downright _**pissed off**_ that she was trying to make him out to be the bad guy... **again**. Ignoring Hermione's rapidly shaking head, as well as the fact that she keep hitting Draco in the face with her brunette tresses, Harry gave Umbridge a simpering smile of his own that was more growl than grin. "I actually tell the truth when I answer and you just spout a bunch of _**Ministry approved**_ lies."

Umbridge's face drained of all color, turning absolutely white so fast that Harry was almost positive that she was going to pass out at any second; Ron even moved out of her way so that she wouldn't land on him, doing it in such a hasty manner that it made the people sitting next to him quickly smoother random bursts of sniggers. That, in turn, made some of the anger that was growing in Harry's chest ease a bit as Umbridge's finally cottoned on to the fact that most of Hogwarts despised her, if not outright hated having her there, her face flushing into such a deep garnet that it rivaled the Gyffindor colors in their Tower.

"I do apologize for my friend's behavior, Professor Umbridge," Draco interjected, rising up and coming to stand next to Harry, even going as far to place a hand on the taller boy's shoulder. "Or I should say, lack there of. You see; he was raised by this particularly nasty family of Muggles, a really messed up group in my humble opinion, one of the worst cases of what my father has been trying to inform the Wizarding World of. It has become so bad that Harry here has realized just how ignorant of our ways he is and has now-after **several** painful years of trying my utter best to persuade him to see reason, mind you-accepted my invitation to teach him how to behave how a **proper** Wizard acts in polite society... starting with how to show respect to teachers who deserve it and conduct oneself in a public setting."

Draco must have told the Weaselys what he had intended to do before he moved to Harry's side, or they were just so completely shocked that he was **defending **(in a way) Harry instead of jumping on the 'Harry-Deserves-To-Be-Punished' bandwagon, for none of them said a word during his little monologue. Harry, himself, restrained from commenting because of the simple fact that, during points of his little speech to Umbridge, Draco had given Harry's shoulder a very subtle squeeze of restraint; a gesture that Harry probably wouldn't have felt if not for the fact that he was in that hyper-aware point of anger were every nerve seemed to be on edge and the cutlery around him was humming like an orchestra tuning up... something that caused the few students still sitting at the table to lean away from it in alarm.

"Very well," Umbridge was saying, pulling Harry's attention back to the fact that she was still standing in front of him, smiling like she was doing him a huge favor. "I do hope that you have better luck with him than I had; for my own dealings have brought to light the fact that the boy has a terrible and very hot temper. Perhaps you could use my supervision in your own lessons, just in case he decides to become violent? Your father is very prominent in the Ministry and I am sure he would be grateful to the fact that I was making sure his son was safe."

You didn't need X-ray vision to see the grip that Draco had on Harry's shoulder now, nor did you need it to see both boys' smiles had become a lot more forced than they were a few minutes ago. Harry was only a few seconds away from moving his shoulder to get some blood flow back into it as he blasted Umbridge back to whatever **hell** she came from and made sure she **stayed** there this time when he was saved by-of all people!-**Snape** descending on the Slytherin table like the bird of prey many First Years believed he turned into at night.

"I do believe that Lucius would be more appreciative of the fact that his son was on time to class, for which many of you have only five minutes to get to," Snape gave the hand Draco had on Harry's shoulder a particularly evil glare before he practically spat, "Although, if this is going to be a regular occurrence, I would suggest that Mr. Malfoy pick his friendships a little more **carefully**. It is not my place to dictate the life of my students, but I would simply suggest that Malfoy venture in **safer** circles. Those that hold ties to Potter tend to have nasty... **accidents**."

Once more, Harry was saved from throttling the life out of one of his teachers by Draco, both by the tightly restraining hand on his shoulder and by the fact that Draco decided to add his own unique spin on the conversation: "Ron and Hermione still seem to be in one piece, sir, and this is after several years of Harry's company, so I think I'll take my chances; but I do thank you both, however, for your concern for my safety. I'll be sure my father hears of the caring staff we have here at Hogwarts."

Leaving the two shell shocked professors standing behind them as they retrieved their various supplies and made their ways to their respective classes-Hermione with a bit of a shriek of panic when she realized that Ancient Runes was halfway across the castle before darting off, Draco a few steps behind her, hollering that she'd see them later over her shoulder-Ron pulled Harry close and hissed in his ear, "Did Malfoy just mouth off to **Snape**?"

Once more hyper-aware of the proximity of the person holding him, for a much more personal reason this time, Harry just managed to get out, "You're going to have to start calling him Draco now, if he's going to be hanging out with us." At Ron's incredulous look, Harry tried to ignore the fact that he was only inches away as he tacked on, "You know Hermione will bug you about it if you don't and you won't remember if you keep calling him 'Malfoy' now..."

Giving him a look that was pure Weasely, amusement, annoyance and mostly acceptance, Ron grinned as he exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and started jogging toward their class. After a few seconds of just speeding down the hallway, Ron finally conceded to Harry's point in his usual roundabout fashion that Harry had learned was the closest he'd get to Ron saying he was right, "Hermione would nag **Dumbledore** about running the school! …Did **Draco** just mouth off to Snape? That's **got** to be a first!"

Grinning in return as he caught up with and then sprinted alongside his best mate (and maybe someday something so much more) Harry gave voice to the thought he had earlier that morning, the almost **prophetic** thought that was becoming even more prominent now than when it first strayed into his head as he cut off Ron around the corner leading to the Transfiguration classroom: "This seems to be a morning for that!"

Ron's laughter chased them through the castle halls.


	12. Through His Eyes

**Chapter Twelve: Through His Eyes, Or A Release of Frustration**

It started as soon as we were sitting opposite each other on the Hogwarts Express, before I even knew **who** he was and **what** kind of guy he was, before I heard his story and became his friend, before Malfoy-The-Ferret tried to tear us apart and before we went into the Chamber together. It was there in the very beginning, growing and maturing through the years as we did, simmering under the surface; easy to mask as jealousy of the way people treated him, not able to admit that it was really jealousy that he needed **other** people to notice or admire him and that **my** admiration or attention wasn't enough.

Going with him to protect the Stone our First year was never a question nor did I even second guess my decision; not only was this the first friend that I had that didn't immediately transfer themselves to my brothers when they met the lot of them, it was also that I knew he would go after it even if we didn't go. Hermione could have stayed behind and not risk expulsion, but no way was I going to let my best mate down... not to mention there was the slight possibility that we could have exposed Snape for the evil bat that I **know** he is, despite what everyone else claims, might have helped push me toward helping Harry out...

I was even willing to be knocked out by a giant chess piece for him; everyone thinks that I couldn't have thought of another way to win, but I knew that Harry had to be the one that went after the Stone and that was what sealed it for me. I could have moved him to a few places, Hermione a few places, and then checkmated the king, but I knew that Harry had to go forward and I needed to be taken... It would've been terrifying to realize I was willing to risk _**bodily harm**_ at _**eleven**_ for a boy I had only known a _**year**_ if I had been conscious enough to think of that.

If I had not known how I felt about the boy who became my best mate when we first met or that my feelings had changed when we went after the Stone, or the fact that I bloody well went into **the Forbidden Forest** to talk to **bloody huge **_**human-eating**_** spiders** with him, the overwhelming emotions that had hit me when he crawled out of the Chamber with Ginny would've definitely driven it home for even the complete blockhead Hermione's always accusing me of being; the urge to pull him into my arms, just to be sure that he was alright and that there were no holes in him-he was absolutely **covered** in blood-was so strong that it mortified me and to cover it up I reached out to hug Ginny instead. Now, don't get me wrong, I was happy that she was alive and breathing when I was absolutely **sure** only **seconds** before that she was dead; it was just that she was only pale and a little shaky where Harry, as I mentioned before, was _**completely drenched in blood**_!

Now you tell me which one **you'd** be worried about...

That's what I thought.

Hearing about Sirius Black coming after Harry didn't terrify me as much as the fact that Harry started acting really weird around us, it was even stranger than when he spent his nights staring into the Mirror of Erised; he would spend hours staring, alright, but it was at **us** and it was as if he were trying to read our minds or something. It took me only a few hours to realize what his problem was; he had just heard that his parents had been betrayed by their best friend, he was no doubt wondering if he should worry that **we** might do the same thing...

I straightened him out real quick.

It was in the library, where we usually spent our time helping Hermione find out what could be used to help Buckbeak in his case against slimeballs like Malfoy's father. I had told Hermione to meet me there a little earlier than we originally planned and she took that to mean getting there three hours ahead of when I planned to get there... She didn't complain; as a matter of fact, I think she enjoyed it, and the only reason I knew this is that I overheard a First Year ask her friend if 'the bushy haired upperclassman' lived in the library because she had been there so long.

After Hermione explained to me that she had found at least seven different cases that would get the judges to at least **look** at Buckbeak's case, reminding me again-the first was when me and Harry were talking to Hagrid earlier that evening-of the hippogriff that we both had agreed to help save... which I feel really bad about now that I know Scabbers, my rat that I had thought her cat had eaten and caused such a terrible row between us, was really Peter Pettigrew in disguise...

Anyway, after me and Hermione tried talking with each other after only shouting and accusing each other of being utter berks, I got that prickly-on-the-base-of-my-skull feeling that means that Harry just walked in the room. I didn't turn around because I knew, just by the way that Hermione stiffened in front of me, that he was looking at us like he had been for the past few months; like he was expecting us to tie him up and hand him over to Voldemort... like he was afraid we would betray him-our best mate and my... well, **our **_**best mate**_-to an evil megalomaniac.

It was that thought that had me jumping up from the table and stomping over to where he was standing, growling at Hermione to stay where she was, not bothering to see if she did as I pulled Harry past the bookshelves, past Madame Pince and all the other curious eyes that followed us into a secluded part of the library before I spun him around to face me, the look of shock and fear dominating his features causing another spurt of anger in me.

"I am _**not**_ going to give you to You-Know-Who, Harry Potter!"

Maybe it was because I had pulled him through the library when I had made special care to not raise a hand to him, just yell and avoid him so that I would never hit him(Mum always said that I had a nasty temper), maybe it was the way that I hissed it at Harry, like I had been the one that knew Parseltoungue, or maybe it was the way I got right up in his face, so mere air separated us as I growled at him... Whatever the reason, Harry's eyes got real big and he just stared at me for a few seconds, but it wasn't like the earlier staring, like he was expecting me to throttle him in his sleep, but like he really **was** seeing if we would be there for him in the years ahead. As if he was seeing if what I said was true, if I would protect him from **Voldemort **_**himself**_...

Long moments went by; hours, days, maybe even _**years**_ and yet I did not move... I can't even remember if I breathed as Harry just looked at me, his breathing neither catching nor skipping as we stared each other down. At last, at long, long, last, Harry opened his mouth to tell me something. Yet, I never heard what he would have said, never found out later either, because Hermione decided to ignore my order and interrupt Harry before he could speak.

"Harry? Ron? Are you alright?"

Neither one of us moved a muscle for three seconds before Harry closed his eyes, took his first deep, shuddering breath, opened his eyes and smiled at us. It was a real smile, like the way Dumbledore does when his eyes sparkle, and it made both Hermione and me gasp aloud, which led to Harry laughing at the pair of us. Chest deep, goose bump raising, real life laughter that made me want to pick him up and spin him around while I yelled at him for being an idiot.

Instead, I just punched his shoulder and called him a ponce... which only made him laugh **louder.**

After all of that, everything that happened for the rest of the year didn't seem as important. The only thing about that year that I'm still trying to find out about is what happened when Harry and Hermione went back in time. Every time I try to ask them what went on, they start laughing and making these little jokes about Malfoy and his cronies, which makes me want to know what happened even more! I just know I'm never going to find out, though...

Fourth Year... I don't really want to talk about Fourth Year, it wasn't my best year and I don't know what was going on with me and Harry for most of that year... I felt so mad for most of it and I always seemed to take it out on Harry...

Once more, everyone chalked it up to jealousy; I was angry that Harry had been picked again and that I was left behind. It just goes to show how much people don't know me; anyone who spent any time at all with Harry-which is why it surprises me so much that **Hermione** felt that I was jealous as well-knew that he **hated** being the center of attention. I never would have felt jealous that he was being forced to do something that he absolutely hated!

I guess I was angry because I was... **scared** that Harry's good luck was finally going to wear off, that he was going to actually get hurt and Hermione wasn't making anything easier by bringing up the fact that the reason the Triwizard Tournament hadn't been practiced in so long is because someone _**died**_ the last time! Thank you, Hermione, for that repetitively wonderful thought! Jealous of an _**almost certain**_ death threat? Not bloody likely!

I was originally going to ask him **why** he did it, instead of how, because he knew how dangerous it was, knew that he didn't want anything to do with the Goblet of Fire and was confused as to **why** he was trying to get into something as dangerous as we **knew** that was, to do something that would give him the attention I **knew** he hated... He didn't want to talk about it, was probably tired of answering that question when he had absolutely **no** clue as to how it had happened at the time-something I had no idea of, which goes to show that I am, at times, the blockhead Hermione claims I am-and snapped at me.

Naturally, I was less than pleasant back...

So I was angry, I was scared, and I didn't talk to Harry for almost three months... The worst three months of my entire life; I was stuck talking to Seamus Finnegan, the bloke who thought that I **wanted** to hear about the multiple times he had blown, burned, slashed, and cursed his eyebrows off. Finding out about the dragons from Hagrid was almost a miracle, I do believe I was actually _**praying to the Founders**_ that something happen to help Harry and me be square again.

Finally talking with Harry was like being gifted with a drink of water after being stranded for years in the desert; I chattered at him nonstop for a good three weeks, eager to make up for lost time, and to show him that I had been as miserable not talking to him as Hermione always hinted that he was not talking to me... He **did** seem like he missed talking to me when we were finally back on speaking terms; he jumped in with questions and comments whenever I took a breath, as if he was worried that if there was a break in the conversation we'd go back to not speaking to one another again. As a matter of fact, I could even tell a few times when he actually stopped himself from saying anything so we wouldn't fight.

A perfect example of that was when the three of us(Me, Harry and Hermione) went to the Yule Ball, the wonderful disaster that it was.

I had suggested to Harry-very offhandedly, mind you-that the two of us could go stag, but he immediately thought I meant that I was sure that I wouldn't get a date and would be left behind again. So he made me a promise that by the end of that day, we would both have dates and he said it in such an excited and conspiratorial tone that I didn't want to disagree and say that the only date I wanted was sitting right in front of me, completely oblivious to how I felt...

Now, you may have heard that I shouted at Fleur Delacour that I wanted to go to the Yule Ball with her and are confused as to why I just wanted to go with Harry. I will explain it to you now; even at the Quidditch Tournament, my reaction to the veela was forced. I simply saw that the rest of the male part of the crowd were acting like nuts, so I went along with it, even go as far as to stare when Fleur and the rest of the girls entered Hogwarts. I knew she was a veela because I could feel this tickle in the back of my brain, but didn't feel anything else and knew that it was a veela Charm trying to work on a brain that wasn't interested...

Just like at the Tournament...

So, here I was, standing by myself in the middle of the Great Hall, wondering what I was going to do about the Ball and who the bloody hell I was going to ask to go to the Ball with me when I was pretty sure that everybody good or that I wouldn't be bored out of my skull with had already been asked out. I was just about to give up when Fleur walked into the room, oozing veela vibes that had every guy within three feet of her drooling at her feet.

(Harry had told me, after we started talking again, that Fleur was part veela on her grandmother's side. I just smiled and said that I knew it all along, laughing with him about how 'we' had acted around her and the other girls of Beauxbatons. I didn't think to worry about the fact that I didn't feel anything until about halfway into the next couple of minutes...)

After turning down at least fifty offers of company for the Ball, going from the polite to the downright obscene, Fleur spotted me and that tickling feeling that I felt whenever she was around-located right at the base of my skull-grew to an impossible to ignore itch, making me scratch at it in annoyance as my eyes scanned the Great Hall for someone to ask to the Ball; hoping to find someone that I could hang out with for a few hours while I watched Harry dance all night with a girl and wishing for not the first time that I had been the female Weasely my mother wanted...

It was then that a look of disbelief entered Fleur's eyes and the itch in my skull intensified, making me feel like I had a bunch of neetles in my brain. I was just about to bark at her to tone down the veela magic when I noticed that the guys had gone from drooling at her to looking like they were going to all jump on her. I quickly realized that she was really pushing the veela thing as far as she could and I also got that it was annoying her to no end that I wasn't responding to her when the rest of the Hall was turning into Hagrid whenever he sees a lethal monster, so she was upping her Charm to **make** me respond.

It hit me that this was not going to end well and that I did not want Fleur Delacour to know that I was a shirt lifter before I came to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to give my mother the grandchildren she's always talking about now, so I did the first thing that popped into my head that wouldn't end with my secret being broadcasted to the entire Great Hall by a pissed off veela or start another Wizard War; I shouted at her to go to the Ball with me.

At the top of my lungs.

The horror that followed and that everyone had such fun taking the mickey out of me even now was because not only did I just ask Fleur out when she was barking mad at me, I was going to get the pity remarks that everyone was **so** sorry Fleur didn't want to go to the Ball with me... not to mention the fact that most people would say this in front of **Harry**, who'd probably think it was funny, but try and be sympathetic. As a matter of fact, I was so horrified that Ginny and a few of her friends had to drag me out of the Great Hall and back up to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry was there and he looked about as lousy as I felt, which actually cheered me up for some strange reason... especially when he told me it was because Cho had turned him down... Anyway, we were sitting there, groaning about the fact that we didn't have dates and wondering what to do about it. I even tried to set Harry up with Ginny so I could 'watch over' them and use it as an excuse to stay near Harry all night, but Neville decided that Ginny would be a better date when Hermione shot him down. Smart, but it also shot **my** plan down the drain...

Then I got a brilliant idea; I'd ask Hermione! She was a friend and wouldn't think that anything would happen at the end of the date. It would have worked perfectly if she didn't already had a date, something I had frustrating claimed that she made up to avoid going with Neville. Naturally, she was more than a little angry with me and stomped off to the girl's dormitory, leaving a trail of paper behind her. After a few seconds of silence with me wondering if I should bring up us going stag again, Harry got this look in his eyes as he looked across the room and, as I followed his gaze, saw Parvati Patil.

Before I could say anything, he was up and across the room faster than I would have thought possible; at least, off a broom. I watched as he talked to the girl and Lavender Brown, crossing his fingers in the middle of the conversation, and even smiling in a way I would swear he picked up from Gilderoy Lockhart. It made the girls giggle in a way that had the people near them look over just in time for Lavender to reach out and wipe an invisible speck of dirt off Harry's collar.

It was then that the fire sparked and spitted so violently the First Years sitting next to it shrieked and darted across the room, causing Harry to break away from Lavender's grasping hands and meet my gaze. He looked as uncomfortable to have Lavender's fingers on his shirt as angry as I felt seeing them there, but when he broke away from Lavender's clinging hold to sit by the now cooling fire, he apparently thought it was because I thought he was asking her out, because he told me that she already had a date and couldn't go with me.

I simply laughed out loud at that and muttered about what a shame that was, all while giving said girl one of the dirtiest looks I could muster, making several of the people sitting near her glance around, no doubt to see if Malfoy had made it into the Tower, or was even anywhere in the vicinity. It was the only time that I ever looked at anyone like that and it had Hermione(who had come back down to get her papers) looking between Lavender, Harry and me with that furrow in her brow that says she's trying to figure something out, but the pieces keep eluding her...

The night of the Yule Ball was one of the worst nights I've ever had to muddle through, and that included following Harry into the Chamber of Secrets, going into the forest to 'follow the spiders', facing down a man I thought at the time was a mad, murderous criminal and the time I was ten years old and my **wonderful** brothers thought it was a good idea to see what would happen if they gave me firewhiskey and then stick a wand in my hands...

(There's a good reason that the ghoul starts acting up whenever things get too quiet at our house...)

So I was in a bad mood to begin with, what with having to watch Harry moon over a girl while I looked utterly ridiculous in my dress robes despite my attempts to fix them that only ended up making them look even more asinine, and when I saw that Hermione had gone with Viktor Krum it seemed like the perfect excuse to vent some of the frustration I felt. It wasn't my proudest moment and I felt like an utter heel as soon as the accusations left my mouth, but she stomped off before I could apologize... I felt even worse when Harry tried to say that he didn't mind Hermione coming with Viktor or something like that and I just snapped at him to go 'moon over Cho some more' and leave me the bloody hell alone.

Looking more than a little hurt and very much like he wanted to tell me to piss off, Harry just stood up and left me alone as I asked-my so called 'date' had vanished some time earlier that night-pointing out very quickly that I should keep my mouth shut whenever I'm angry... It took no time at all for him to find someone to dance with; what surprised me was that it was a **guy** from **Durmstrang**(did Beauxbaton even **have** male students?)that asked him and I was even more floored that Harry **accepted** without so much as a blink! It made me wonder: would he have said yes if I had asked him straight out to go to the Ball with me?

I didn't have long to wonder; Harry began to dance and my entire focus was on his gyrating form, which only started off with a few clumsy jerks before the jerk dancing **with** him laughed lowly and reached out to place his palm against Harry's hip to guide his next few steps. Harry gave him a look that was part embarrassment, part thanks before moving out from under his hand and on his own again. I was grateful for that, for it was then that I realized that my hands were clenched so tightly that I was digging my nails into my palms.

"You should just dance with Harry, Ronald."

Luna Lovegood popping up next to you is about as good for your heart as the Bloody Baron smiling in your direction, but I was too wrapped up in watching Harry and his dance partner to do more than twitch. "What are you talking about, Luna?"

Luna moved into the corner of my vision, her dress a mass of hoops and pink lace, before plopping down in the seat next to me, turning her psychedelic framed eyes in my direction. I didn't bother asking her why she was at the Yule Ball; if she wanted to go somewhere, I doubt anyone could tell her no... It was either that or that someone had said that they would go with her to the Ball as a lark and she simply believed them; my fury at that thought overrode the confusion I felt at everything else so much that I was a little disoriented when she spoke again.

"I said, you should just dance with Harry Potter, Ronald," Luna reiterated, smoothing out her dress as she emphasized Harry's name, almost if she thought I was confused about just **who **she was talking about or if there was some other Harry staying at Hogwarts than the one that now laughed every time the ponce from Durmstrang opened his bloody mouth..."You would be a much better partner for him, anyway."

Luna was now smiling a little and her voice grew a little softer, as if she was imagining how the scene would go, imagining Harry and me dancing together... "You are at least a good foot and a half taller than Harry, your skin tones compliment each other, not to mention you are a much better dancer than Edwin."

I snuck another look at Luna, but it was absolutely impossible to tell if she was kidding around or not; her face didn't change from that slightly off smile of hers and it was impossible to tell what her eyes looked like under her glasses. I was almost about to ask her if she really thought I should ask Harry to dance, if I should just tell him how I felt,(not to mention how in the name of Merlin's **Patronus** did she know the name of the Durmstrang boy!) when Cho got dropped down at my table by Cedric Diggory.

"Watch over my date for a second, would you, Weasely?" Cedric asked, giving me a grin that had me once more reminded of Gilderoy Lockhart and that had Cho blushing even more madly than she had at the word 'date', "I want to make sure she has fun while I get her a drink!"

Without even waiting for me to accept his 'request' or even answer him, Cedric was dodging through the crowd to the other side of the Hall and over to the refreshment table, leaving me with Cho Chang looking highly uncomfortable on my one side and Luna Lovegood looking like she was at a picnic with the Queen on my other... There was no doubt in my mind just **what** was making people point our way while they giggled to their friends.

"I'm sorry Cedric forced me on you-Ron, was it?-so suddenly," If I wasn't already biased against the girl, I would have to admit that Cho was rather pretty when she smiled and that her dress did look rather good on her. Unfortunately, all I felt at the moment was resentful that she already had a date, but she was still getting looks from my best mate, who was dancing with a large group of people that included **my** attempt of a partner as well...

How is it that he could get a **crowd** of people and I can't even get just **him**?

"He's just determined to make sure I have a good time, and I guess that means making sure I'm not left alone for a second! He's rather sweet that way, but I'm utterly **exhausted** from dancing so much!" Cho laughed a little, barely snagging my flagging attention and completely oblivious to the fact that Harry was now giving us the same look that I had undoubtedly given Lavender a few nights ago... Completely oblivious to the fact that her mere **presence** was causing so much turmoil between the two of us...

"Don't worry, Cho," Luna piped up from my left and leaning forward to look across me at Cho, who was no doubt uncomfortable at being addressed by what the majority of the school called 'Loony Lovegood'-and that was when they were being **nice**-or maybe it was just a little unnerving to have Luna's glasses-framed gaze directed at her, "Ronald is just upset that Edwin is dancing with Harry and he wants to dance with him... It also explains why all the Tithigares are hanging around him..."

Cho simply blinked at Luna after the girl finished speaking while I prayed to every single god and deity-not to mention a few I made up-that the ground would just open up and swallow me whole. After a few seconds of the two girls blinking at each other, and me trying to slide under the table, I dimly became aware that Cho had finally regained her ability to speak and stammered out, "W-what? Ron wants to dance with a boy from Durmstrang?"

Before I could summon up a proper response that didn't get me even **more** embarrassed than I already was, Luna laughed-outright **laughed**, not giggled-at Cho like **she** was the nutty one and said, "No, Ronald doesn't want to dance with Edwin! Ronald wants to dance with **Harry**!"

This time I was ready to bargain anything; my brothers, my sister, my wand, my entire life from that point forward, if I could just get them to _**stop talking**_ or better yet, erase the last few seconds of the conversation from everyone's memory(especially mine!). Cho's face was completely blank this time, not blinking or anything, and it took her a whole fifteen minutes before she spoke. Cedric had actually almost made it back to where we were sitting by the time her thought finally made it all the way from her brain to her mouth.

"W-w-what?"

"It's nothing, Cho," I cut across whatever humiliating thing Luna was going to say next, giving said girl a look that said that we were going to drop this faster than the Hufflepuff Quidditch team did the Quaffle. Luna, surprisingly enough, listened to me and stopped announcing to everyone within a five foot radius that I was trying to get fleshy with Harry Potter(I know that she was just saying that I'd like to dance with him, but at that point in time it felt like she was hollering to the whole school that I wanted an empty, lockable room, Harry Potter, and a few Silencing Charms...)

"B-but s-she... s-she s-said-" Merlin, you'd think I just told Cho I convinced Harry to join You-Know-Who's Death Eaters the way she was stammering at me! Even Luna was looking at her like she was some kind of an idiot, and Luna never looks that way at anybody, knowing firsthand just how that feels. "T-that you... that y-you and Harry... T-that Harry and y-you..."

"It was a joke, Cho," I interjected, grinning madly at Cho, desperate that she believe me and not tell Harry anything that we talked about. I wasn't sure if it was the way I was smiling or if Cedric decided that right then was a good time to finally pick up his date, but she didn't comment on anything that was said, nor did she say anything to Harry, despite the fact that she walked right past him on her way to the dance floor.

The rest of the night was a huge ball of fun after that and my screaming fit with Hermione was legendary through Gryffindor Tower, though not for the reason most people assumed; before she started screaming at me for 'not being brave enough to ask someone to the dance', she mentioned that it wasn't **her** that I was too afraid to ask out, with a not-so-subtle look behind me. I knew that Harry was coming up and snapped, scared that he might find out about how I felt, and started accusing Hermione of 'dating the enemy' again.

Our fight, as they usually do, dissolved from there and we woke the entire Gryffindor Tower with one of the worst screaming fights we ever had; Dean even sleepily quipped that we fought worse than his parents did before they divorced, something that he never would have mentioned if he was fully awake because his parents are still a bit of a sore subject with him and it made the entire dorm just sit there in silence for a few minutes. It also made me feel like a bloody heel and I apologized for the fight and told him to go back to sleep. He did and I followed a few minutes later, still feeling like an utter berk about the whole thing...

Thank Merlin and all the Founders that the rest of the year drove the Yule Ball out of everyone's mind; not that I'm saying You-Know-Who coming back after fourteen years is a good thing, but it at least made everyone focus on something other than my utter embarrassment. That everyone decided that Harry was just an attention seeking psycho-which goes to show how everyone doesn't know him-and that Dumbledore was just a senile old coot made it even more full of shite than it already was; what with the Ministry using that as an excuse to have Umbridge, that ugly old frog, as a 'liaison'(as Hermione calls her, much better than my name) for Hogwarts...

Now it's Fifth Year and my entire world is once again turned on its axis; it seems like I wasn't the only one that had a change of heart... Hermione being in love with Draco Malfoy, the same guy that had made most of her magical life a living hell, is still refusing to settle in my brain despite the fact that he's claiming to have changed and feels the same way about Hermione. True, he had all but ignored her-and us-last year to the point of me commenting once that I thought he changed schools, but Malfoy had been an utter arse to Hermione for thee years prior to that! Maybe I'm just missing something...?

Nonetheless, what has grabbed most of my attention and focus was what had happened earlier yesterday morning-was that really only yesterday? Wow...-before Hermione dropped the bomb of her feelings for the little ferret, before Harry had his little 'talk' with Malfoy, before Malfoy made his claim about giving his family name a good washing... It was one of the most amazing couple of minutes of my life and it's driving me nuts because I don't think it'll ever happen again:

I had been wondering about my feelings for Harry and whether or not he'd be as freaked out as Cho had been when Luna had mentioned that I just wanted to dance with him-hoping against hope that he **wouldn't** be as freaked out even if he **did** decide to freak out-when he came up to the dormitory from one of Umbridge's 'detentions' looking like he just fought off a horde of dementors with a really thick stick instead of a wand. He had been looking like that for a long while, ever since he came back from the end of the Tournament with Cedric's body...

**I** think he feels guilty that he wasn't able to do anything to help the poor bloke, not for lack of trying from what we could manage to pry out of him in the few moments he **did** want to talk about it; his only consolation is that he **did** manage to fulfill Cedric's last request: Bring back his body to his parents. I **also** think that Harry would do a lot better coping if Cho wasn't helping the matter by crying every time someone mentions Cedric's bloody name...

I hated seeing him look so bloody depressed, so I started ranting about how much I hated Umbridge and whether or not I should risk my prefect status(a shock, I'm sure, to anyone who knew me and even the people that didn't ) to 'borrow' some of my brother's merchandise and 'properly welcome' the old toad to the school. After a few minutes, I had Harry laughing-yes!-and even joining in with ideas of his own on how to make our Defense Against the Dark Arts 'curse' take effect on our least favorite teacher, the sooner, the better...

I'm not sure how our conversation went from talking about various ways we'd like to see Umbridge violently explode to snogging, but one minute I was saying how I'd like to drop her in one of our Potion cauldrons and watch as the bits smothered Snape to death, the next minute I was asking Harry if he ever thought about snogging a bloke, completely blank on what we had talked about in between the two statements that could have possibly connected them.

(That also must be one of the reason why Dean, whenever he just so happens to overhear Harry and I talking together, called them 'crack conversations'... whatever the hell that meant...)

Nonetheless, Harry just stared at me for a few seconds while I mentally beat my brain against my skull and wondered why, in the name of _**Merlin's Staff**_, did I just ask him that question! He seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for after I figured out at least three different ways that I was the stupidest wizard on the planet and needed to get shipped off to St. Mungo's immediately to check to see what happened to my senses, Harry finally broke the silence to quip, "Is this some sort of trick question, Ron, or was there something that you wanted to tell me?"

Bolstered by the fact that I heard-I think_**, **_**I **_**think**_-a small note of... well, **interest** in Harry's voice, I decided to continue on this rather slippery slope and repeat the question in a more assured tone of voice, adding on to it that I won't make fun of him no matter **what** he answered nor would I think any different of him if he said yes. I even added, in a completely nonchalant tone of voice, of course, that it was perfectly **normal** if he did think of snogging a bloke... not to mention the fact that I might have thought about kissing a bloke a couple of times...

Harry just sat there and stared at me as I babbled on like a complete loon, his silence not making me feel any better as I desperately tried to cover up the fact that I just put my foot in my mouth all the way to the knee and was trying to shove it in further. After a few seconds of Harry doing his best impression of Luna talking to me, I was just about to tell him to forget the whole thing when he cut across me and took away my ability to breathe, never mind being able to speak.

"Do you want to kiss me, Ron?"

After silently gasping in shock for a full six minutes, I noticed that Harry was grinning at me and barely suppressing his laughter, if the twitching of his lips was anything to go by... It made me realize that he thought the whole thing was a joke, that it was just something to take the mickey out of; so, being a (slightly)normal guy, I gave the normal response to that kind of question: "Are you completely off your rocker? That is the most insane idea I ever heard!"

"You're the one who said he needed help, I was just giving you a suggestion..." This was obviously part of the conversation that I could not remember, not even now that I didn't have the distraction of Harry's full attention being focused on me, but since Harry seemed to be going along with the idea that I had somehow stumbled my way across, I figured it wasn't worth arguing over and I also figured that I would lose the fight even if I felt close to trying. I was also coming to grips to the fact that _**Harry Potter**_ was willing to kiss me, if not because of any hidden feelings for me, but because he thought I was curious about what it felt like... I was having a hard time getting used to the fact that I was **conscious** during all of this...

"Well, what if I'm so bad at it, or I do something stupid, and you hate me all over again?" Apparently, my brain had also decided to take a bloody vacation and just let me spit out the first thing that came to mind without thinking about the consequences, but I thankfully didn't have long to feel embarrassed about my utter lack of common sense because Harry had let loose one of his real life, goose bump raising laughs-that had me desperately hoping it meant he **didn't** think I was being an idiot-and answered me before I could take back my question.

"Nothing could make me hate you! Sure, I was miffed at you in Fourth Year, but I could see where you were coming from now." I had explained, after everything that had happened, that I was scared that he would somehow run out of luck and get hurt, making me irritable with him and snappish with anybody that had brought up his name while we were fighting... He just smiled at me and thanked me for caring so much, which had led me to being completely embarrassed and brushing it off as not having anyone to torture Malfoy with.

"Would you rather I be a different boy and it get all over school?" Harry effectively wiped away any other objections I might have had, making me wonder _**why**_ I had any objection in the first place; the thing that really made me shut up was not the fact that **I** would end up kissing another bloke if I kept going over this, it was that _**Harry**_ might end up snogging someone else if I kept coming up with reasons not to just go for it and hope my body didn't betray me...

"Alright, alright! Let's get this over with!" Harry was grinning again, but I was too busy trying to calm my rapidly beating heart too pay it any mind; I was going to do something that I had send multiple nights dreaming-as well as multiple classes fantasizing-about in a few seconds. I was suddenly struck with the thought of whether or not my breath smelled like the kidney pie I had for dinner and whether or not I get away with using a charm to freshen up my breath...

I was also suddenly struck with the thought that I was thinking about this whole thing like a girl would, so I shook my head to get all the bloody whinging out of it and crossed the distance between harry and me, not waiting to see if he really thought this whole thing was some sort of brilliant scam and try to back out of it. Come to think of it, right before our lips touched, I think I saw a look of... well, it looked like pleasant surprise on his face before my eyes slid close.

Did that mean what I think it meant...?

I want to say that it was magical, that I saw sparks flying and heard fireworks explode in my head or whatever it is that girls prattle on about when they kiss someone that's suppose to be their 'true love', but it didn't really feel like any of that, nor did I see anything like that either. His lips were warm, slightly chapped but still soft, and they felt nice pressed against mine, so I think it was because I was so nervous that I didn't feel any of the things you're suppose to.

Or it could be that Hermione interrupted us before I could get a good enough taste of my best mate to tell if I honestly liked it or not... Merlin, did I really just think that? Bloody hell...!

So that's my life in a nutshell, that's the reason I've been so twitchy these days, plus the fact that Malfoy is going to be part of our group now and I'm going to be watching him like a hawk to make sure that even the thought of hurting Hermione doesn't enter his blond head. Added also is the stipulation of my brothers agreeing to trust the ferret is that he has to do one thing that the twins say, no matter how humiliating and he has to go through an interrogation of Ginny's to get her approval as well. Something tells me that I won't have to keep a close enough eye on him for a couple of days; he's going to need a couple days to recuperate from the double whammy of my brothers and Ginny, a week of bed rest at the least.

And on par for the last couple of days, my thoughts drift to Harry and how he's dealing with the fact that Malfoy and Hermione are a couple now; two people that were as different as blood and oil now getting along as well as pumpkin juice and treacle tart. He said that he and Malfoy came to an understanding, but I'm not sure if that meant Harry trusted the rat or not... I wonder if he'd trust me after he realizes that I've been keeping such a big secret from him... Would he ever trust me again?

I've been wondering about a lot of things these days, but mostly I wonder what Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived and iconic figurehead of the Wizarding World, would say if he knew that I loved him...?

He probably laugh at me...

-0-0-0-

_A/N: You know, this was originally suppose to be just a Hermione/Draco fic? With very little input from the other characters? Apparently, they really didn't like that idea..._

_This is also the longest chapter I've written in any of my stories; I think the closest word count topped at just shy of 5,000 words. This is is past 7,500. And it's a Ron rant. Does that say something about me? Am I projecting?_

_Anyway, love it, hate it, please review and tell me what you think!_


	13. A Dose of Gryffindor Courage

**Chapter Thirteen: A Dose of Gryffindor Courage, Or Grabbing the Bull By the Horns**

Draco sat in a plain stone room, decorated with a single table and the chair he was sitting in, reminding him rather uncomfortably of the interrogation rooms that his father had shown him when he was teaching his son about having an 'impartial eye when questioning someone close to you'... something that Draco now knew was a test to see if Draco would be able to torture his friends if need be, or if his father wanted some kind of sick enjoyment...

Trying not to let his unease show, Draco looked across the table at the triad that stood there; Ginny Weasely was at the center, her gaze unflinching on his, her twin brothers on either side of her, wearing matching sadistic grins. The 'Golden Trio' were leaning in various stages of rest along the wall behind them, chatting with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, acting as if there wasn't a interrogation going on just a few feet away from them. If anyone looked in this conveniently empty classroom, they would think it was some sort of club meeting and not something that was causing Draco to sweat profusely in his seat...

"So... Do you think that we should make some sort of oath to make sure the little snake doesn't try to weasel his way out of this?" One of the twins decided to break the silence around them-with an insult, no less-and Draco was not surprised that Hermione did not immediately jump to his defense, even though he could tell that most of them were, including the one who had spoken; he knew that she was letting him show them that his words at breakfast were true and that he really was trying to be a better man, even if it killed him...

_With this group that might be more of a reality than one would originally think..._Breaking the silence that had fallen at Hermione's non-action, which was rather amusing and he would probably laugh later when he was so uncomfortable, Draco spoke for himself, "If that will make you more inclined to trust me and what I have to say, I am more than willing to accept whatever oath you demand of me. However, may I make one stipulation on Hermione's behalf?"

That got him a few raised brows and some general muttering, while Hermione shot him a look over the Weasely's bowed heads that clearly was asking him what in the world he was thinking. He gave her one back that said he would explain in a few seconds before turning his gaze to the men beside her; Ron had already spoken for himself before this little meeting, reiterating that he would beat Draco to within an inch of his life with his bare hands if he so much as looked at Ron's 'sister' wrong and was now throwing glances at Harry whenever the boy's head was turned. It seemed to escape Ron's notice that the Boy-Who-Lived was doing the exact same thing, both boys trying to make sure Luna didn't say anything to give them away.

_Interesting_...

"Alright, Malfoy, just what is this 'stipulation' that's supposedly in Hermione's best interest?" Ginny was the one who asked, making Draco turn his gaze back to her. She was still staring at him like she was trying to drill a hole through his skull and he would have found the sight frustrating if he was dealing with anyone else; he had tormented all of the Weasely family, insulted the older Weaselys and he was pretty sure that it was his father's fault that Ginny ended up in the Chamber in Second Year. Draco was surprised that they had let him even near Hermione, no matter what he had said. It was a surprise to him even that the girl herself wanted anything to do with him, he had treated her the absolute worse; calling her Mudblood all those times and acting like her very existence was a personal insult... He was constantly grateful she never heard about what he said to Crabbe and Goyle Second Year...

"We're waiting, Malfoy." Ginny quipped, drawing him back the present and the problem he had to deal with in the here and now. _I find out a way to apologize to Hermione later, maybe even make it up to her somehow... _Resolving to treat the girl he had fallen in love with-_It __must__ be love if I'm willing to go this far for her!_-like the angel he knew she was, Draco changed what he was going to say about not making him announce to the entire Slytherin House that he loved the girl and decided to just go with his heart this time instead of his head.

_She must be rubbing off on me more than I originally thought; this __is__ a rather __Gryffindor__ thing to do, after all..._

"Whatever you want me to do... make me swear it under a Wizard's Oath." He waited until the gasps of shock and cries of disbelief died down as he kept his gaze on the only person that mattered in the room, who was now looking at him as if she wasn't sure if he lost his mind or not. Giving her a reassuring smile that he hoped cared more faith in himself than he felt at the moment, Draco continued, "I have already made a Wizard's Oath with Harry and believe that any subsequent Oaths will only make that one even stronger. If I break my word, I will be more tormented than any of you will be clever enough to think up... Yes, even you two."

The last was directed at the twins before everyone's gaze went to Harry in a silent demand to see if Draco was telling the truth and he was not surprised by the action; if anything, it was almost reassuring that they were still suspicious of him, because he was inclined to agree with Hermione that he lost his mind: No doubt the twins will make him do something he would never be able to do and he would lose his magic, be unable to protect Hermione from his father, and then the only girl he would ever love would wind up dead... and it all would be his fault because he made that stupid agreement...

"He did make a Wizard's Oath, even though I'm pretty sure we both had no clue what he was doing at the time." Harry was saying, his voice coming from a long way away, but helping Draco focus his concentration on the conversation once again. It wouldn't do to lose this concession now, not when he was so close. Even if he did lose his magic, part of his Oath was that it would go to someone who could protect her... He could stand living as a Muggle as long as she was alive. "Last night, we had a talk about him and Hermione, that's why I'm not worried about any of this; he knows what will happen if he screws up."

Draco suppressed a shiver at Harry's tone and was once more faced with the boy that was going to defeat Voldemort as the two locked gazes; it might have sounded careless to the rest of the Weaselys, but Draco caught the undertone that said that Draco wouldn't have to worry about living as a Muggle, nor would there be anything left for Ron to 'take care of' should he mess up his chances with Hermione. It was the kind of voice were, if he wasn't already concerned with making Hermione happy, it would suddenly become the entire focal point of his world-if not his entire universe-and that not doing so would be very, very bad.

It seemed the twins got what Harry was saying and decided not to press matters, because they were now looking at Draco like he just might be on the level, giving him the kind of glance that fell between 'test subject' and 'honorary brother'. Draco wasn't sure if he should be happy or not about the change, but Ginny grabbed his attention before he could think about all the implication of being in the twin's sights even more than usual.

"If we do this, and make the Wizard's Oath, you will do whatever my brother's ask and answer any questions I may have?" The emphasis she put on 'whatever' and 'any' told Draco she was giving him a chance to back out of this, or that she was having second thoughts herself and was letting them all have a couple of minutes to really think about what they all were going to do. Apparently the twins weren't the only ones that were willing to give him a second chance, it seemed the youngest Weasely was rethinking what to make of him as well... It was that, more than anything else concerning the Weaselys, that solidified his decision to go through with what was agreed.

"I will."

The entire room seemed to focus on him for a few seconds, including Neville and Luna who had been silent for the entirety of his conversation with the Weaselys, and Draco made sure to keep his gaze leveled with his spine straight to show that he wasn't as afraid as he felt he was. _Father was at least good for something..._ The thought of the man that had sent him on his downward spiral made Draco even more determined to make sure that he earned the respect of the group sitting in front of him...

"Very well," With a wave of Ginny's wand, the table they were sitting at disappeared, leaving Draco the only one left sitting in a chair, now with nothing but air between him and the only Weaselys that had the power to scare him... not that he'd ever admit that out loud, of course; he did have a reputation to uphold after all, not to mention the fact that the twins would take every opportunity to make his life a living hell if they knew... "Fred, George, you guys go first, then Draco and I will have a little 'talk'... You two manage to get the Vertiserum?"

"Right here, boss!" The twins pulled out a small, clear vial that Draco recognized on sight and could tell just by glance that it was the real deal, having had enough experience with its effects before; there had been no secrets in the Malfoy household when he was younger, lies were quickly sniffed out by the contents of the potion in front of him. Over time, his father had grown bored of the method and instead used scare tactics to gain the truth, something that Draco still wasn't sure if he should be thankful for... On the one hand, he never had to be treated for potion poisoning again, but if his father ever found out about what was about to happen, then Draco would have a whole lot more to worry about than a simple Purging Potion...

The twins motioned for Draco to stand in front of them, wands at the ready and hands outstretched as if inviting him to play a game. Yet, he knew that this was no game and that his life was going to change drastically by the end of the hour, if not in the next few minutes. A stray doubt asked him if this was worth it, if all of this trouble was worth the love of one girl, but Draco pushed away the negative voice and instead joined his hand with the two in front of him as he caught the tearful gaze of the only girl that he would go through all this trouble for while trying to calm the frantic racing of his heart.

Despite the fact that his hand was sandwiched between Fred and George Weasley's, a pair of wands were aimed at his heart, and the fact that he was pretty sure that everyone in the room could see how bad that he was sweating now, Draco felt a strange sense of calm overcome him as he looked around the room, taking in the fact that no one there was looking at him in disgust now and that they all had various stages of curiosity on their faces instead. He was struck with the thought that, had things been different during their First Year, none of this would be happening and he probably would have been on a date with Hermione in place of being charged with a task that was sure to be impossible and then interrogated...

_Mother did always say that my pride was my greatest strength, as well as my greatest weakness. _"Do the two of you want to start this or should I?" Draco asked, eager to not only remove his hand from between what felt like two bands of steel, but to also make them lower their wands before they all decided to come to their senses and Curse him into some sort of slug or something as equally disgusting.

"Maybe he should go first with his Vow, after all; we haven't decided what we wanted him to do-"

"Having him as Harry's servant sounded like a good idea-"

"-but then we realized that they'd end up either killing each other or shagging-"

"Hey!" The exclamation came from both boys and was filled was equal parts disgust, but everyone was too busy laughing at what Fred and George said to comment on the fact that this was the first time Draco and Harry had ever agreed on something.

"Then I thought we agreed him going around starkers was a good idea-"

"No, we discussed that; too many girls wouldn't mind him being naked, Hermione included-"

"-very true, oh brother mine-"

"-so we decided that would be more of a reward than a punishment-"

Hermione was just opening her mouth, whether to defend him or herself Draco never found out, because Luna decided to use that moment to speak up for the first time since she entered the room, when she pointed out that the room was perfect because 'Hiliaslyphs had cleaned all the negative energy out': "I agree, Draco is very aesthetically pleasing, so I have found myself curious as to if he would be as nice to look at naked or not."

Silence; complete, all-encompassing silence greeted that statement as everyone looked at Luna in shock, Neville gaping like some sort of fish as he obviously tried to figure out something to say, his face a red that had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything to do with anger. It took Draco only about five seconds to figure out why; Luna had just admitted to thinking that he was a decent looking bloke, not to mention thinking about him naked and if what he had seen the other night at the Astronomy Tower was true, Neville didn't really like that news...

Yet, he was unable to articulate that problem before Ron made some sort of gurgling snort that could have been a laugh if his hand wasn't in the way that managed to make Luna focus on him instead. "You may laugh, Ronald, but I have seen you looking at Harry as well, especially when he is dressed in his Quidditch gear. Are you not also wondering what he looks like naked? Your expression at the times seemed to indicate that you are."

Harry's head had snapped over to Ron in the middle of Luna's speech so fast that Draco could hear it pop all the way over on the other side of the room, making him wince in sympathy, yet Harry only absentmindedly rubbed at his neck as he stared at his best friend like he wasn't sure if the shiny bauble that had been handed to him really **was** his to keep. Ron, however, had turned bright red and dropped his own gaze to the floor and the fact that his brothers were making various catcalls and whistles weren't helping things, despite Ginny's attempts to get them to shut up. After a few moments of tense silence, Ron muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'Bloody Lovegood' before exiting the room in a dead run, Hermione and Harry on his heels as they called out for him to stop.

_**Very**__ interesting..._

"Well, we should leave as well, Neville; I don't think Draco wants us to listen to all his secrets; it's going to be embarrassing enough with just Ginerva, Fredrick and George here watching him..." Luna gave Draco a smile that was suppose to be reassuring, and it was then that he realized that she had planned the whole thing, but then his mind became stuck on the phrase 'all his secrets' and refused to kick back into gear until Neville finally got his jaw unclenched.

"Luna, do you- Are you- Did you ever think about **me** naked?" It didn't seem to be the question that he wanted to say-or, for that matter, the first one that had come to mind-but it was the first one got out and after he said it, Neville didn't back down or stammer like he normally did; Draco could only summarize that Neville had finally found where his Gryffindor courage was hiding as Luna blushed for the very first time since he had met the slightly off Ravenclaw.

"As a matter of fact, various images of you have been appearing in my thoughts in the last couple of days and a few times you have been nude..." Luna's blush darkened, but with her light, almost translucent skin it just went from a very light pink to a slightly darker pink, yet it was nice to see that she could blush. It made her look almost... normal. "It has been rather distracting and I have to concentrate a bit harder than normal to study. I'm going to have to get a charm to ward off the Igurgees; they like to do that..."

"Oh..." Neville had not only caught onto the fact that Luna had used her previous comment about Ron finding Harry attractive as a way to clear out the room, not to mention trying to get the boys involved to admit that they actually did like each other, the smaller boy was also unable to keep the smile that her last comment caused from spreading across his face. His attempts at nonchalance were dismal at best and Draco had to nearly bite his lip in half to keep from grinning himself, but for a completely different reason... "That's alright, then."

The last he saw of the duo was Neville putting his arm around Luna's shoulders as if it where the most natural thing in the world, which made the blush disappear from Luna's face as it split into a huge grin... almost as if someone had found some evidence that the creatures that she kept prattling on about actually existed. Draco shook his head at the pair and chuckled before turning back to the twins, who were once more giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher...

"Well, I think we know what we want to make you do, Malfoy-"

"-Merlin's Beard, we're going to have to start calling him Draco now, aren't we?"

"Hmm, maybe we should rethink this whole thing..."

"What exactly is wrong with my name?" Draco demanded frostily, a little peeved at the reaction his birthright gave these people, thinking back to the first time he had met Ronald Weasely. If the redhead had been a little less vocal of his distaste, maybe Draco wouldn't have been as vocal about the Weaselys' general poverty... "Your brother had a similar reaction when we first met; it's a good, strong name... Why is it such a note of humor for you?"

"Well, it just that it seems to be a thing for your family, doesn't?" Fred or George grinned, shifting slightly so that he was leaning up against his mirror, yet keeping his wand and hand on Draco. "You all are either named after stars or constellations, what's the matter with some down to earth names? Or are you guys too lofty to be named after anything lower than the heavens? Please tell me you're not going to burden your kid with that kind of name as well?"

"Oh, so I should saddle him with some plain, everyday name like a certain Gryffindor I could mention?" Draco asked, grinning as he saw the smirks growing on the pairs faces; they had shown him, in their own Fred and George way, that they had finally accepted Draco at his word. It would've been much more reassuring if he knew that he could go free after this, but he still had a Vow to fulfill as well as facing Ginny Weasley when he was done...

"Alright, brother, it's perfectly clear what we need to do now-"

"-Yes, I think this particular Slytherin would be rather helpful on our side-"

"-Mmhmm, just think of all the inside jobs we could do!"

"Okay, then, Drac. We know what we want you to vow-"

"-We want you to make Hermione happy!"

"WHAT?" Draco had been expecting something drastic; a run around the lake in the middle of winter wearing nothing but a tee and shorts, pulling a prank on the entire Slytherin House and not add it to him as well so that they could tell that it was him, but just making Hermione happy? That would go out the window the first time they had their first fight! Draco mentioned this, as well as the fact that he was surprised that they hadn't asked him to do anything more... colorful.

"We know that you and Hermione are going to argue; the fact that she's a rather.. intense individual and you are... well, you. We mean an argument that dissolves your relationship in a way that hurts her, like claiming that your blood is too pure to sully with hers," The reminder of how he had treated to girl that had no reason to give him a second change made Draco flinch, but the twin was far from over, "If you guys eventually decided that you rather be friends, or something else comes up, the Oath will dissolve and you'll be free to live out your life."

The way 'or something else comes up' was stated reminded Draco that Hermione was Harry Potter's friend and that she was more than likely going to help him fight Voldemort, which also meant that her life expectancy was not a sure thing. This time it was Draco's hand that gripped the twin's that was under his, making him raise his eyebrows in surprise, but Draco was more focused on the thought of Hermione not making it through the battle with Voldemort... Hermione, usually so vibrant and annoyingly alive with all of her good nature nagging, laying cold and pale on some battlefield, with Harry and Weasel crying over her form... A cold, dark stone all that was left of a beautiful, determined woman who Draco was sure could be the first female Ministress of Magic if she wanted to...

Draco felt his jaw clenched so much he was certain a few of his teeth cracked in protest and the words he spoke were hissed past his lips as if he had acquired Potter's ability to speak Parseltongue. "Hermione. Is going. To live."

"We, Fredrick and George Weasley of the Weasley clan, are witness to Draco Malfoy making a Wizard Oath in application of Hermione Granger of the Granger clan and clan-friend, in addition to the Wizard Oath made with Harry Potter of the Potter clan." Draco's gaze snapped up to the twins, eyes wide as he realized that his statement had wiped all the mickey from their gazes and turned them completely serious, something that he had never seen before and something he hoped to never see again. "We Vow to make sure that no outside forces inflicted upon Draco Malfoy cause him to break his Vow and promise to beat the tar out of the ponce if he messes up on his own, if there is anything else left after our brother gets through with him, of course..."

"I, Draco Malfoy, Vow to keep Hermione Granger both safe and happy, as long as it is within my power to do so. If at any time I am unable to do so, I will forfeit my magic to the one who will be able to and live the rest of my days out as a Muggle." The looks of shock the twins gave him were well worth admitting to his Oath, he was sure that not may people could claim they had managed to surprise them before... "So mote it be!"

A flash of light, reddish-orange this time, enveloped Draco with a sudden ferocity before brightening so much that it turned to the blinding white that that had covered him when he had made his first Oath with Harry. Draco felt a slight tugging on his magic as the two Oaths fought for dominance before they settled into a sort of truce that left him breathing heavily and both Weasley twins looking a little out of breath themselves.

"Well, now that you've got that little problem out of the way," Ginny quipped, breaking through the tension and causing the group to jump in tandem, "Maybe we can get onto the questions that I need answered and we all can get back to our dorms before curfew? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not looking forward to being caught out-of-bounds by Filch, no matter what deep, dark secrets I learn from Malfoy!"

Despite the fact that he had just made his way through the most nerve-wrenching half hour in his entire life, hearing those words come out of Ginny's mouth made Draco realize that what was going to happen next was going to be the hardest thing he would ever have to go through; he was going to have answer any question that Ginny Weasely would ask without trying to fight the Vertiserum, without trying to hide part of himself from the probing that Ginny was sure to do. There was never a time in his life that he was ever completely open with someone...

And then he fell for Hermione Granger.

Sighing heavily, Draco watched as the twins left the room, teasing and warning Ginny about all the questions she had, telling her not to kill him if he said anything stupid and not to fall in love with him herself if he said anything sweet. He watched as she threatened them with bodily harm if they kept saying stupid things like that or if they repeated what they had said to anyone else, complete with brandishing her wand at vital parts of their anatomy. He watched as they hightailed it out of there as fast as they did chasing Bludgers in Quidditch, watched as Ginny turned to him and asked something, something that looked like 'are you ready?'

That was the question, wasn't it?

**Was** he ready?

-0-0-0-

A/N: Well, what do you guys think? Is it believable? Or should I have them be more suspicious of Draco? Let me know what you think; be it good, bad, or mediocre!


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